Luuk de Jong celebrates his goal against Mallorca. /
Analysis
The culé team leaves behind the «this is what there is» and becomes a team that knows how to suffer and win games
There are moments that are decisive in people’s lives and there are also those that are decisive in the lives of teams. Barcelona arrived in Mallorca in a critical condition, with 17 casualties and with the possibility of delving into a long-term crisis. Everything seemed against him and, nevertheless, he came out of there stronger and with a new center forward. Xavi’s men won a game that is gold for the morale of a group that was touched during the first half of the season and in which green shoots now appear. Luuk de Jong, who scored the only goal of the match, and Ter Stegen, with a saving stop in the final stretch, are proof that the trend has changed at Can Barça.
Minute 92 in Son Moix. Jaume Costa receives a lateral center and shoots Ter Stegen. The German goalkeeper stretches out, makes his robotic arm of steel and saves the furniture in a move that perfectly sums up the importance of detail for Barça this season. Just a month ago the same play ended in the networks and the snowball in the form of a crisis was getting bigger and bigger. That ball destroyed in its wake the morale of a team installed in the «this is what there is» and gripped a style that at times was not recognized on the Camp Nou pitch.
Today that style that so many technicians planted as Johan Cruyff or Pep Guardiola has returned with high pressure and touch play, but has added a record that had been lost in recent months, knowing how to suffer. Barça is getting stronger with blows. The continuous injuries and setbacks in the form of results have hardened a team that does not renounce its identity stamp but that gradually adds records to be less vulnerable against rival arreones and more damaging in the opposite area.
One of those new elements is undoubtedly Luuk de Jong. The Dutch striker started in Mallorca due to script requirements and showed that he has enough resources to give Barcelona useful variants in attack. In the first half he was the axis of attack of a team that knew how to change registers to alternate the game of position with lateral centers with which to take advantage of the power of its battering ram. The ex of Sevilla thanked him with two balls to the wood, one after a perfect Chilean, and with a header goal in which Manolo Reina, now the rival goalkeepers err, could do more. He’s a hell of a professional. I am happy with him. Of course I contemplate him staying, today he has been useful to us. It is an example for all, “said Xavi when asked by the Dutch.
Luuk de Jong is an example of redemption at Can Barça and so is Ter Stegen. The German goalkeeper has been the subject of much criticism since the start of the season and against Mallorca he finally managed to establish himself as the protagonist. His hand in the 92nd minute sealed a triumph that tastes of glory and that allows his team to finish with the unbeaten goal after seven consecutive games conceding goals and adding three points at home, one of the pending subjects of the Catalans this course.
Ferran Torres, “at the end of the recovery”
Barça is progressing adequately, waiting to recover all the troops it has in the infirmary. One of them is Ferran Torres. The Valencian striker was presented this Monday at the Camp Nou and assures that there is little left to leave behind his problems in his right foot. «I feel very well. I’m at the end of my recovery doing one-hundred-percent individual training and I hope to be playing in less than two weeks, “he said.
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Ferran Torres, along with Joan Laporta, during his presentation as a new Barça player. /
Ferran Torres arrives at Barcelona with the “illusion of a boy” and after having played with technicians like Luis Enrique or Pep Guardiola, coaches with culé DNA like Xavi. «They are one of the best in the world, with a similar style. I have learned a lot from them taking advantage of their versatility. It can help me to have these coaches. So it will cost me less to adapt, “he said.
The new culé player fulfills the “dream of playing for Barça, the best team in the world.” Ferran was clear from the moment he learned of the Blaugrana interest that he wanted to reach the city of Barcelona. «In the national team, I had a good game against Italy and Mateu called my manager. He told me that Barça loved me and I told him I wanted to come yes or yes. City are one of the best clubs, but I am ambitious and wanted to come to Barça to return the team to the place it deserves. It is a very united block and with great joy “, he concluded.
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