All those taunts and criticisms that Real Madrid had received after falling in Alcoy almost turned against a Barça that needed overtime to beat Cornellà (0-2). Not being able to play well on a small field of artificial turf came within the logic, but after losing the Super Cup final, being eliminated by a Second B rival could have been a fatal blow to Ronald Koeman’s project. And the team played with fire, as Ramón Juan became the first goalkeeper in history to stop two penalties in the same match against Barça. In the end, despite receiving a goal from a Dembélé who knew how to revolutionize the game, the goalkeeper was the most proud to leave.
Without Messi, Barça wasted a lot of chances in a game in which many players had a chance to vindicate themselves. This was not the case, as many were even more pointed out. Others did not hide and stoned a rival with a giant heart. In fact, a few Barça players already knew the stage. The Nou Municipal de Cornellà is a fort in which more than one senior team has left its portfolio in recent years. No, it’s not easy to play on the Cornellà field. But Barça already knew that, because they had studied how Guillermo Fernández Romo’s team had lost to Atlético de Madrid. Araujo and Ilaix Moriba, who had played here with the subsidiary, also knew this. In fact, both were the best for much of an awkward match. Instead, Riqui Puig, who also knew the stage, was slowly disconnecting from the game, with some dangerous ball losses. And Koeman, seeing that he also had a yellow to protest, stretched out his ears and sent him to the bench at the break. Koeman knew it would be a match of chewing sand. And so it was. His Barça are not used to playing in small fields like this, but with 50% of the salary of the lowest paid Barça player you already have the entire budget of a Cornellà who also came with just 12 players from the first team ready, because of casualties. And yet, the Second B team generated three clear enough chances against Neto, who on the day he could finally play saw how his teammates, as had happened in the Super Cup, did not defend the strategy plays well. premises.
Ilaix asks for minutes
The game, however, was controlled by a Barça in which Ilaix Moriba was excited. The young man with Guinean roots partnered well enough with Puig and Griezmann and turned the match into a statement of intent to ask for more opportunities. Despite feeling as uncomfortable as a billionaire who is forced to queue to board a flight low cost, Barça could have finished the job thanks to the footballer with the most heart in the squad, Araujo. The Uruguayan center-back, who won all the direct duels with Ontiveros, played the physical trying to finish off a cross, receiving a penalty that Pjanic missed. Ramón Juan, the local goalkeeper, stopped the launch and started his show.
Worried about the possibility of playing a third overtime in just eight days, Koeman didn’t wait long. At the break he had already asked Ousmane Dembélé to revolutionize the game and made him enter for Riqui Puig. And quickly Braithwaite, alone in front of Ramón Juan, forgave the 0-1. But it was not the day of the Dane either, who did very little. And Cornellà knew how to scratch seconds, break the rhythm of Barça and, from time to time, warn with a long shot from Agus Medina.
With the clock becoming Barça’s local ally and executioner, Koeman opted for control with Busquets and Pedri, who came in for Ilaix and a blurred Trincao. And the changes rolled, when in a strange play the defense of Cornellà committed a penalty on Lenglet very similar to the one of the first part on Araujo. Two penalties, both committed on power plants. And two penalties stopped by Ramón Juan, who stood still in the center of the goal, when the intentions of Dembélé were right, who added his name to the list of players cursed with penalties this season. With wounded pride, Barça gave their all to avoid the penance of extra time, but Ramón Juan knew it was his day of glory and made two incredible stops that left a Barça that was harassing with a slap in the face. a very tired rival, wasting three chances that would have prevented the agony of overtime.
But Ramón Juan could no longer work miracles. And it was Dembélé, the man who changed the game, who beat him in extra time with a beautiful long shot that he did not even celebrate, for the missed penalty. Dembélé knew that playing the extra time, where Konrad de La Fuente did his thing, was still a penance. Now, the team avoided burning in the Cup bonfire after Braithwaite made it 0-2 in the final second, thanks to a gift from Pedri. It was a matter of winning, of preventing Cornellà from being remembered as Novelda, Figueres or Santa Coloma de Gramenet. And he won, but with a bitter aftertaste in his mouth.
What has Pjanic come to Barcelona for ?: the hot notes from Cornellà-Barça
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