Barça reigned in the madness of La Cerámica. Xavi’s men beat Villarreal 3-4 in a match that had everything. The culés went ahead with goals from Gavi and De Jong, those from Setién responded with three goals and in the final stretch Ferran Torres and Lewandowski closed the account so that the visitors got away with it in a heart-stopping clash and can be placed in the high zone of the classification.
A gale. That is what Barcelona found as soon as they jumped into La Cerámica. Xavi improvised in the absence of Pedri, Araujo and Raphinha, and arranged an eleven in which he brought on Marcos Alonso and Sergi Roberto as novelties on the sides and Lamine Yamal, for the second consecutive game, as Lewandowski’s companion. The bet did not go well from the beginning and his team, too lukewarm, saw Villarreal get on his beards in the first minutes. Baena was able to score with a shot that was deflected by centimeters, Sorloth saw the goal but his goal was canceled for offside and the Norwegian had another one that Ter Stegen disrupted.
Xavi was screaming in the stands before the barrage of locals. The culés were not capable of jumping the pressure in the opposite field devised by Setién and when they did, they did not find fluidity in the midfield formed by Oriol Romeu, Frenkie de Jong, Gündogan and Gavi. It didn’t seem like the best scenario, but everything changed in the blink of an eye. There was going to be a storm. Lamine Yamal put a measured cross into the area and Gavi emerged from the second line to hit a final header and change the script of the game.
Villarreal
Jorgensen, Foyth, Gabbia, Cuenca, Pedraza, Parejo (Brereton Díaz, min. 86), Terrats (Comesaña, min. 70), Capoue (Denis Suárez, min. 70), Baena (Morales, min. 77), Gerard Moreno (Akhomach, min. 70) and Sorloth.
3
–
4
Barcelona
Ter Stegen. Sergi Roberto, Koundé, Christensen (Eric García, min. 46), Marcos Alonso, Oriol Romeu (Ferran Torres, min. 63), Gündogan, De Jong, Gavi, Lamine Yamal (Ansu Fati, min. 76) and Lewandowski.
Goals: 0-1: min. 12, Gavi. 0-2: min. 15, De Jong. 1-2: min. 26, Foyth. 2-2: min. 40, Sorloth. 3-2: min. 50, Brothers. 3-3: min. 68, Ferran Towers. 3-4: min. 71, Lewandowski.
Referee: Hernández Hernández (Las Palmas Committee). He booked Lamine Yamal, Lewandowski, Foyth, Terrats, Gabbia and Eric Garcia.
Incidents: Match corresponding to the 3rd day of the League, played at the La Cerámica Stadium in front of 21,679 spectators.
And it is that that goal was air for Xavi’s men and cold water for Setién’s men. Villarreal accused the blow and immediately afterwards De Jong took advantage of a defensive error to stand alone against Jorgensen and score the second goal. In just four minutes, Barça had gone from suffering tremendously to going two goals ahead. The culés had extracted oil in two approaches, but it was not the reality of a clash that was played downhill towards the Barça goal. Ter Stegen appeared again against Pedraza, but he could do little after a tight header from Foyth that closed the gap and after a play of tiralineas that, this time, Sorloth culminated to leave the duel in a draw before the break.
Correcalles
After the restart the madness continued. The game was a street runner, La Cerámica gritted its teeth like on a roller coaster and Pedraza had gasoline to set the duel on fire. The full-back pulled fuel, dodged the Barca ranks and, at the exact moment, assisted Baena so that with a superb bagel he signed the third and set off all the alarms for the culés, unable to contain the local push. Barça was leaking, they needed to react and Xavi knew it. The man from Tarrasa, back in the stands due to suspension, introduced Ferran Torres and he decided to join the party. Lamine Yamal, very active, found the way on the right side and warned with a shot to the wood before Ferran Torres appeared by surprise and did what he has been doing since the preseason began. He entered, showed himself and hunted a ball in the area to return the tie to the scoreboard.
It was there when the saying that football is a state of mind came true. Villarreal had withdrawn ranks and Barça already had the bugle call in mind in search of the fourth goal. The culés had more and more troops in attack and Lamine Yamal was a torment for Pedraza. The winger, barely 16 years old, faced again and again until another left-footed shot of his crashed into the wood and Lewandowski took advantage of it to make the final 3-4 and Xavi’s men reigned in the midst of madness.
2023-08-27 17:53:00
#Barça #reigns #crazy #game
