BarcelonaHard-fought victory for Barça against Cadiz with goals from Sergi Roberto and Lewandowski. With this score, the Culers are still eight points above Madrid in the standings. Next, some hot notes.
It is important to revalue assets. First match worthy of Ferran Torres. The Foios winger, paid for in gold just over a year ago, has lost ownership and played against Cadiz basically because Xavi wants Raphinha to be fresh at Old Trafford. That’s why he played open on the right wing, a position he hadn’t stepped on for a long time, although it was the one that made him known as a professional. Perhaps what Torres, who is undergoing therapy to strengthen his mind, needed was simply to go back to his roots. Even if Arzamendia was not the most demanding scorer, it must be recognized that their first half, crowned with a great play in the 1-0 by Sergi Roberto, was more than remarkable. We hope that the Premier took notice.
It neither shines nor clashes. It’s no joke to think about doing business with Ferran, since you can’t forget that Barça has the fair play exceeded, he cannot use leverage to sign and is forced to reduce the wage bill before the summer. The Valencian is young (23 years old), has projection and his salary is not exaggerated. And most importantly: it is not essential for Xavi. Sergi Roberto is in a different situation, appointed second captain after the retirement of Piqué and ready, at the age of 31, to sign short contracts and leave to continue at Barça. The one from Reus does not have many suitors because injuries have weighed him down recently, but he is useful for the technicians, a club player who neither shines nor is out of tune. It’s already amortized and always adds up.
Riqui Torre, Pablo Puig. Without the injured Pedri, with Busquets limping and Kessie booked for Manchester, the visit of Cadiz was an ideal occasion for Xavi to give some minutes to Pablo Torre, a club bet that motivated the payment of 5 million a year ago. The Cantabrian has played a few short games with the first team and has shown signs of his offensive quality, but the coach has stopped counting on him to the point that he is not even worth appearing in a doomed game. Even the young Ángel Alarcón has passed him. Something is wrong with Torre so that, suddenly, he looks more like Riqui Puig than Pedri.
Complicit silence Since the party had no further history, it is relevant to use this space to ask for more than a statement and a victimistic reflection from Joan Laporta about the bombshell that has exploded in recent days in relation to the payments of seven million euros to a company of dubious nature owned by the accused Enríquez Negreira. The current president of Barça is not only involved in the scandal for his first term (2003-2010), but he has also been accused by Bartomeu of having quadrupled the fees of the one who was vice-president of the referees Spaniards and his son. The silence does nothing but show complicity with a way of governing football, here and there, that should already be extinct.
