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Barça de Liga: chronicle, result and goals

BarcelonaIt will be difficult to bring Barça down from the cloud on which they have climbed. Optimism has returned to the daily life of the players, which has changed faces and raised the spirits of a club that looks in the mirror and sees itself attractive again. In the last few years, I saw a grimace reflected in the mirror. Xavi’s team has set the straight and stretched the ears of Lopetegui’s Sevilla. The two teams were at one point halfway through their respective paths. Barça climbs to the top and Sevilla sinks into hell, broken inside. Xavi’s team always wins. To the Andalusians, a worthy rival in recent years, now comes the cross.

Going to the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, in recent years, was like going to the dentist. It was time to suffer. But this year the nerves lasted 20 minutes, not much more. A very good start by the Sevillians made it possible to vindicate the figure of Marc-André ter Stegen, but once Raphinha scored the first everything was decided. As if it were a boxing match, once Barça connected the first shot, he saw how his opponent’s legs were shaking. Sevilla had come out bravely and Xavi’s team took advantage of this to show that the rival had a jaw of butter. The Brazilian’s goal cracked the soul of the Sevillians and encouraged a Barça that has already managed to steer its ship with the winds in its favour, in the right direction. In the classification, above, there is now only Real Madrid.

If Xavi surprised with his team, it was precisely to not turn the team upside down. Instead of making rotations, they played almost as usual, with Balde on the side, while Jordi Alba looked on with a face of few friends on the bench. Lewandowski, who became the team’s center of gravity, played well accompanied by Dembélé and Raphinha. The Frenchman played a delightful first half, enjoying himself as much as a child in front of a video game, pressing the buttons to score goals. In fact, Barça’s first few minutes were not particularly good, with a broken, crazy, up-and-down game. Entertaining it was, but also dangerous. One of those somewhat chaotic scenarios where, logically, Dembélé felt very comfortable. The French seem to live better if there is a little anarchy. Xavi, on the other hand, was breaking his throat giving instructions, demanding control, seeing how it was Ter Stegen who took all the praise with two saving interventions, the kind that add points and win games. Ter Stegen has also recovered his best level. Almost everything is going well at Barça now. Not so long ago, the German could not get away with it.

Xavi knows how he wants his team to play. He knows the style, he wants his proposal to command. But, in the absence of control, it was necessary to impose the law on the areas. First, with Ter Stegen’s saves and then with Lewandowski eating the soul of Sevilla’s defenders. The first goal came after a beautiful finish from the Pole. The defense managed to get the ball off the goal line as best they could and Raphinha, punctual, only had to accompany the ball into the back of the net to score his first goal in the League. The second one was done by the Pole, naturally. Kounde, greeted with applause by his fans just a few weeks ago, proved again that he is a forward-thinking defender, coming up with a long-range assist which Lewandowski turned into a goal. Good thing the Pole celebrates goals with a laugh, or you’d think he’s a robot, the creation of a brilliant scientist. Tall and strong, so cold when it comes to making decisions, Lewandowski has made scoring goals his daily routine. It sounds easy, but it’s not. And he, when he scores one, looks for the Barça fans to get the best of their laughter, as if he were a superhero smiling at the citizens whose lives he had just saved. Lewandowski seems created by a comic book writer or Hollywood.

Eric Garcia, face and cross

After beating Rayo at home on the day of their La Liga debut, Barça are sailing with the wind filling their sails. The third goal was scored by Eric Garcia after a great strategic move in which, again, Kounde was involved. Martorell made his debut as a goalscorer with Barça, but was injured shortly afterwards. It can’t all be good news, we know. It was the only blemish on an almost perfect record where Xavi was able to make changes in the middle of the second half, thinking about a calendar that goes up and having plugs in the more players the better. Jordi Alba and Frenkie de Jong had their minutes. Sergi Roberto, turned into a secondary actor who always has minutes with Xavi, too. And an Ansu Fati who would be a starter in any team, as good as he is, but for the moment he is a substitute at Barça, since the coach from Egar knows very well how he wants to play. And now he prefers more vertical, outgoing ends. The move goes well for Xavi who sees his project grow tall and strong, with very strong roots in the ground.

With Kounde ending the match at centre-back, Barça allowed themselves the luxury of finishing the match with some laziness, as if they already wanted to make their debut in the Champions League. The folder for the Sevilla game was already closed, with a file inside that spoke wonders of a Gavi who was key, recovering the ball from 0-1. And proving again its ability to be ubiquitous. Barça allowed themselves the luxury of scoring without it being the best game of a genius like Pedri. At the new Barça, the spotlight is shared every week. A new Barça that gets drunk on the liquor of triumph, on the honey of euphoria. It’s hard not to go to sleep dreaming that this year it is. That this team will make history.

  • Seville: Bono, Gonzalo Montiel (Suso, 74′), Fernando, Nianzou, Acuña, Joan Jordán (Delaney, 46′), Ivan Rakitic, Nemanja Gudelj (Carmona, 46′), Lamela, Youssef En-Nesyri (Dolberg, 56 ‘) and Isco (Papu Gómez, 70’).
  • FC Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Kounde, Araujo, Eric Garcia (Sergi Roberto, 54th), Balde (Jordi Alba, 63rd), Sergio Busquets, Gavi, Pedri (Frenkie de Jong, 63rd), Raphinha, Lewandowski (Ansu Fati). , 74′) and Dembele (Ferran Torres, 63′).
  • Goals: 0-1 Raphinha (21′), 0-2 Lewandowski (36′) and Eric Garcia (50′).
  • Referee: Mateu Lahoz (Valencian Committee).
  • Yellow cards: Dembélé (9′), Balde (28′), Jordán (33′), Carmona (66′), Araujo (75′) and Sergi Roberto (89′)
  • Red cards: None
  • Stadium: Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán (40,233 spectators).

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