BarcelonaBarça win to widen the gap with Real Madrid in the League. Raphinha and Jordi Alba’s vindictive evening, protagonists against a rival who only lasted half a half. Next, some hot notes.
Favorite, yes. Xavi does not want the pressure of being the favorite to take the League, which is why he says his team is a “candidate” for the state title. The reality, however, shows that this edition, at Barça, can only escape. The numbers are incontestable: the Blaugrana already have an eight-point lead and have only lost seven in the entire first round. In addition, they have already visited all the theoretically committed fields and have only conceded seven goals in 20 games. The next few weeks, with casualties, probable rotations and the European tie with Manchester United, will serve to see the point of maturity that the team has reached. But the title that marks the regularity, whatever happens, cannot escape from the hands.
Without Busi it is not the same. Xavi’s Barça is very good at singing thealirón, but he will have to watch out for injuries if he doesn’t want to lose his cruising speed. The egarenc has built a solvent team that dominates in the areas. However, the key to everything is in the core, where a vital superiority is produced thanks to the coexistence of four midfielders in particular: Busquets, De Jong, Gavi and Pedri. In the first minutes against Sevilla, the captain went down with an ankle injury and, clearly, it was not the same to jump under pressure or find interior corridors with him as with Kessie, who was in charge of trying to replace him. That Sergi Roberto was not the first choice to fill the vacancy was surprising. And the fact that Pablo Torre wasn’t even on the bench is worrying. All in all, Xavi’s selection was not so bad.
Kessie paulinheja. In the area of influence of a midfielder, Kessie had a discreet performance. But the Ivorian is one of those players who gains attributes when he steps into the area. With him, Barça added a finishing alternative beyond Lewandowski, and also a successful option to pivot for the arrival of second-line men. In this sense, his maneuver to assist in the 1-0 Jordi Alba, Xavi’s favorite – not the club’s, which Marcos Alonso prefers – was excellent to give Balde oxygen. Kessie is not a centre-half or a tidy inside. He doesn’t improve plays through the pass and doesn’t build from the base, but he bites thanks to an imposing physique and has an offensive vocation. Remember Paulinho with Valverde a few years ago? Well, the truth is that it looks a bit like it.
The right proposes, the left ends. Barça won the duel against Sevilla through the wings. If the right, with Kounde and Raphinha well coupled, became a type of generating superiority and serving poisoned candy for the Andalusian defense, the left, with Jordi Alba and Gavi, had taste and precision to end the most opportunities clear The most paradigmatic example of this trend was the 2-0, the work of Gavi. Kounde, who had a lot to spare, set Raphinha on the run and the Brazilian, who went from less to more, kept his cool to find the young Andalusian alone at the second post. By the way, good detail of the Blaugrana 6 dedicating his first goal in the League to the injured Dembélé.
