Memphis Depay opened the scoring for the Catalans at Camp Nou with a brushed right strike in the 49th, but the Basques immediately equalized in the 52nd by Luis Rioja, author of a magnificent breakthrough and who relied on Joselu to snatch the draw. Less than 72 hours after the ouster of Ronald Koeman, no miracle: the Catalans of Barça went on Saturday for a third consecutive game without a win in a week, and have won only four times out of 14 games since the start of the season all competitions combined.
The Dutch coach, sacked in the wake of the last 1-0 defeat at Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday, was replaced on Saturday by the ex-coach of the Catalan club’s reserve team, Sergi Barjuan, who appeared smiling , wearing a blue shirt and a gray jacket. Despite the draw, the interim coach has indeed some reason to smile: although the situation is most uncertain, the players already seem to have found some form of freedom in the game, Saturday night against Alavés, in a Camp Nou in half empty.
The young midfielders from the Masia training center, Gavi (17 years old) and Nico (19 years old), shone by their positioning and were sharp when approaching the opposing cages, alerting the Basque goalkeeper Antonio Sivera or serving bright passes for their attackers. And even the Spanish international defender Eric Garcia (20 years old), recruited this summer but in difficulty at the start of the season, distinguished himself: he was the first to carry the danger of the head on the opposing cages (19th), and saved the draw with a defensive gesture as instinctive as it was decisive in the 75th.
Agüero victim of discomfort
Two alerts, however, worried the Blaugrana supporters. The first, shortly before the break, when Sergio Agüero lay down on the ground, touching his chest. The referee called the rescuers, but the Argentinian finally walked out, replaced by Philippe Coutinho (41st). The second, twenty minutes from time, when Gerard Pique had to give way to Clément Lenglet, limping and grimacing.
In the absence of Karim Benzema, it was Vinicius who carried Real Madrid to a 2-1 victory on Saturday at Elche, a success allowing the Madrilenians to temporarily return to the top at the level of Real Sociedad (24 points), who receives its neighbor and eternal Basque rival Athletic Bilbao on Sunday evening. Brilliant since the start of the season, Vinicius scored a brace, first with a cross strike from the left (22nd), then a clever sting ball (73rd). The young Real hope, not selected for the next international window with the Brazilian selection, has scored seven goals in 11 La Liga games this season, one more than in his two previous seasons (6 goals in 64 appearances).
“I didn’t do anything in particular (with Vinicius). I just made him play, I gave him the confidence he deserves. I’m not a magician, I just tried to deal with it as best I could. Now he has confidence. He plays very well, he scores a lot of goals. Everything he does, he succeeds, ”praised his coach Carlo Ancelotti in a post-match press conference.
Pere Milla reduced the gap at the end of the match (86th) by taking advantage of an error in relaunching the defense of Real, but Elche, reduced to 10 after the expulsion of Raul Guti in the 63rd on a second yellow card for a tackle on Toni Kroos, failed to hang the draw.
