Athletic de Liga: chronicle, result and goals

Xavi Hernández has no time to waste. His head keeps spinning, looking for solutions and revising his own ideas. If against Villarreal he already redid the team, against the lions three quarters of the same. It’s like a warning to navigators: that no one expects to know by heart the team that will start, in Barça. Rival coaches will have to break their shell to try to read the mind of the coach from Terrasse. Unai Emery suffered it on Thursday, Valverde on Sunday. Sad return, that of Ernesto Valverde. Neither whistled nor applauded by a Camp Nou who ignored him, focused as he is on thinking about the future. And Valverde is part of a past that hurts. Barcelona is like this past, these stones in the pockets, this weight on the heart. He wants to smile again. He wants to win.

Xavi redid everything, giving up his idea of ​​always playing with pure ends. He modified the plan that worked for him against Villarreal, but with a change of hats. Instead of Ferran, Dembélé. Instead of an Ansu who seemed destined to be a starter, he brought Pedri closer to the opposing goal. Xavi’s ideas laboratory explored a new formula: he played together the apple of the coach’s eyes, Sergio Busquets, with a rising Frenkie de Jong. A kind of double pivot more creative than destructive, who kept control of the match. Also when Barça lost Gavi, injured after a very violent collision with Dani Garcia. Once Kessie came in for Gavi, the game lost a bit of electricity, which the Andalusian player always gives. The result helped, sure. Barça won 3-0 after 25 minutes of sloppy football that left Valverde reeling.

Sergi Roberto, luxury secondary

The first had been scored by Dembélé in a move in which, as if it were a game, the roles were changed with Lewandowski. A cross from the Pole and a header from the French, disguised as number 9. The second was an interning by a Sergi Roberto who ended up injured, just now that he continues to add minutes, when not so long ago everyone assumed that he would leave the club . His shot was deflected by an opponent, beating an Unai Simon who went on to fatten the list of victims of Lewandowski shortly after. The Pole turned on himself, like a baldufa, dizzying the Basque defense to make the third. Both Sergi Roberto and Lewandowski assisted by a Dembélé who faced, as he likes, with meters in front. The French was forgiven for the sins of Milan and Madrid. He needed it. And by the way he gave arguments to his suffering defenders. Critics still don’t see it clearly. They are frazzled as he combines great performances with days when he is not there. Or do both in 90 minutes. Dembélé is a coin in the air, he is a misunderstood artist. A box of surprises.

As happened against Villarreal, the second half was a procedure with little history. Only the substitutes added a bit of rhythm to a game in which Xavi got it right by placing Balde on the wing. Quick as he is, he knew how to stop Nico Williams and projected himself in attack always successfully. Xavi protected Lewandowski: he gave him rest and placed a reborn Ferran de fake we, position in which he took advantage of another gift from a Dembélé disguised as King of the East to make the fourth. The Frenchman, whistled in the past, ended up cheering when Xavi replaced him with the young Pablo Torre. Within a round day where the group stood out, with De Jong, Balde or Ferran smiling, the French was the most prominent. The bad weather seems to have long passed just as the monster that does not let the children sleep, Bayern, returns to the Camp Nou. And a Champions League that will surely hurt. Both for the possible elimination and to see that with a better schedule and success this team could also walk with their heads held high in Europe.