BarcelonaA tight victory for a superior Barça against Sevilla. The victory of Xavi Hernández serves to assault the second position in the League. Then the hot notes of the match.
Pedri is scared. We already knew that Pedri is the best Barça player before another trick was invented to decide a game. Another, yes, because a couple of weeks ago he rescued the team from Turkish hell with two clippings and a crack definition. The canary broke the scheme last year, his first in the elite. That’s why what he’s doing this season, after many weeks injured in the fall, is to take off his hat. It was enough for him to maintain the level, but what he is doing is enriching it above all expectations. That he has already scored more goals than in the whole of last year is just one example.
The best central? Araujo returned to the axis against Sevilla to the detriment of Eric Garcia, substitute despite his great role in the classic, and to the benefit of Dani Alves. The decision conditioned Barça’s departure from the ball. The Uruguayan defender is unstoppable in the open field and has a great command of the aerial game, but he still lacks finesse and clairvoyance in construction. Although it is clear that he is working hard to understand the spaces and be more precise, the sports area must consider this asterisk in the negotiation of a renewal that is being extended. Araujo is not yet the most complete center of the staff. And no, he can’t charge like Pedri.
Xavi is very clear. It is difficult, with the season underway, to stop thinking about the future. This is what transition courses have like the one Barça is going through. In this sense, one has to wonder what will happen to Dembélé, the starter for the third consecutive game and applauded by the public at the Camp Nou. Xavi prevented the club from defenestrating the Frenchman after the soap opera in the winter market and will now be the main defender of its continuity beyond June 30. In fact, if they make him choose between directing efforts to retain him or to pay 30 million for Adama or Raphinha, it will be very clear. Will the Deco-Mendes binomial gain that dust?
Same criteria? Barça’s 1-0 win over Sevilla is a bit misleading. It is true that Ter Stegen saved the equalizer with a providential hand, but the game was an offensive monologue for Barça, who had more chances than their rivals. They could also have gone to the break with a favorable result if the referee had signaled a penalty from Koundé to Aubameyang. The French midfielder caught the Gabonese striker when he had already won the position to finish off a cross from Alves. However, the referee did not punish anything. Suddenly the contrast with the criteria that helped Madrid in Vigo on Saturday.
