A few days before the end of the year holidays and before a last meeting in 2021 against Sevilla FC (12/21, 9:30 p.m.), FC Barcelona played for the last time of the year at Camp Nou this Saturday, during the reception of Elche in the framework of the 18th matchday of La Liga. On a series of four unsuccessful matches in all competitions (in addition to the friendly against Boca Juniors, Editor’s note), the Blaugranas absolutely had to raise their heads, they who were in eighth place in the standings. For that, it was necessary to beat the Franjiverdes who also had to give themselves some air since they were only two points ahead of the red zone … Catalan side, Xavi Hernandez aligned a 4-3-3 with a trio Abde -Dembélé-Jutgla in front. Francisco Rodriguez left him a 4-4-2 but left the former Parisian Pastore on the bench.
The supporters feasted quickly at Camp Nou since from the second minute of play, the young Jutgla unblocked the situation with a superb dive from Gavi … But the VAR confirmed an offside to cancel this goal. Dembélé and his partners really established themselves in the opposing camp and mastered the debates at the start of the game. And inevitably, they were rewarded. On a corner hit by the French winger, Jutgla jumped higher than everyone else to open the scoring (16th, 1-0). Barca were not resting on their laurels and Gavi was having a great time. After a sublime oriented control, the young Spanish international made a good rush before concluding with a strike from the right for the second goal (19th, 2-0). The visitors suffered greatly and luckily for them, Gavi (21st, 44th) and De Jong (25th) did not make the score worse.
Barça loses everything in seconds before reacting
For his part, Roco tried to revive his team on the few opportunities of Elche, but it did not work (24th, 37th) in the middle of some arbitration decisions … surprising. To shake up his team, Francisco Rodriguez then made two changes at half-time. Changes that paid off at first since Elche showed a better face (47th, 48th). But we still had to be careful with Barça who also remained dangerous with De Jong (50th) and Gavi (51st). Badia even had to work in front of the young Jutgla (58th) … A decisive parade. Because behind, his teammates restarted everything. On a cross from Boyé, Morente did a good job before finishing the job with a cannonball (62nd, 2-1). A goal that made the Catalans tremble, who ended up cracking a minute later.
Completely forgotten at the far post on a cross from Morente, Milla equalized for Elche after the hour mark (63rd, 2-2). In a few seconds, Xavi Hernandez’s men therefore lost everything and had to redo everything to seek victory. So the Blaugranas went back to the front with in particular the speed of the young people of La Masia. And luckily for Barça, its club-trained players made the difference. After a one-two with “Dembouz”, Gavi returned to the box and served Nico back. The latter controlled before cleaning the skylight (85th, 3-2). The referee allowed behind 6 minutes of added time but Elche did not snatch the point of the draw. In a match that he made complicated, FC Barcelona won 3-2 to temporarily take 7th place in the ranking. The evening visitors remained sixteenth.
