Barça appeared before their fans this Tuesday at their new ‘home’: the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium. And he did it with Lamine Yamal as a big star. The young footballer, barely 16 years old, entered the second half with the game stuck, made Dembélé forget and two of his details turned a sports venue that until then had looked gray upside down. The goals from Lewandowski, Ferran Torres, Ansu Fati and Abde sealed the 4-2 final against Tottenham in a Joan Gamper that will be remembered forever as the one that brought about Lamal, a footballer who chose to shine the same as Leo Messi in 2005 when he dazzled the Camp Nou against Juventus.
It was the presentation of the League champion, the welcome for the new signings and the opening of the Lluis Companys stadium. All in one, a party, and yet all the spotlights were on Rafa Yuste, the vice president of the sports area. He was in charge of coming to the fore to resolve all the doubts that are currently on the Barcelona table. “Dembele? We are negotiating with PSG and we hope that everything will come to fruition shortly», «Registrations? We have been working on it for a long time and there will be good news soon», «Neymar? I don’t feed rumors.” This is how he reviewed all the news, like the one who distributes candy at the door of a school.
Meanwhile, Xavi’s men remained oblivious to all the noise that Rafa Yuste was preparing with his rally, much noisier than his new football ‘home’, a Lluis Companys who continues to fail to convince fans who yearn for the Camp Nou. “We changed houses, but we need you because the objective is the same, to win all the titles,” said the Tarrasa coach before the 35,000 attendees. His speech came fed with an eleven that could perfectly be the one that opens this Sunday against Getafe at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez. The man from Egar maintained the 4-4-2 of last season with Eric García as a novelty along with Araujo, with Gavi in the midfield accompanying Oriol Romeu, De Jong and Pedri and with Raphinha and Lewandowski as goalkeepers.
Tactic without surprises
Xavi’s approach was not fooling anyone. Pressure in the opposite field, fast circulation of the ball and Raphinha and Balde as stilettos on the sides. With that recipe came the goal as soon as the match began. The Brazilian winger hunted a ball into space and put a measured cross on Lewandowski, one of those that the Pole does not usually miss. The goal woke up the Olympic and also a Tottenham who had not come to Barcelona to go sightseeing. Ange Postecoglou’s ‘spurs’ have little to do with those of recent years and they reacted immediately.
The culé coach, Xavi, addresses the spectators at the Olympic stadium, the new Barça ‘home’, before starting the Gamper trophy., Afp
Tottenham began to win the disputes and before the break turned the game around in the blink of an eye thanks to a brace from Skipp. The English midfielder found a rebound in the area to equalize and headed home the second before the break after a Perisic delivery. It was the epitaph of a first half in which the culés went from more to less and in which they ended in the worst possible way; behind on the scoreboard, with doubts in defense and with Araujo out early due to some discomfort.
After the restart, Barça was still stuck. Bissouma, Skipp and Lo Celso were winning the game in the wide zone against the Catalans and the pressure up front was sterile against an opponent who came out easily from behind. It was there when Tottenham was able to extend the rent. Richarlison, Dier and Pedro Porro tried their luck before Xavi decided to make a move to change the momentum of the match.
youth to power
The Tarrasa coach was giving entry to Marcos Alonso, Ferran Torres, Ansu Fati, Iñaki Peña, Abde, Gündogan, Fermín López and Lamine Yamal. Xavi made up to eight modifications until his team improved, was more compact and found vertigo thanks to Abde and especially Lamine Yamal.
The young winger, barely 16 years old, has the nerve that is so rare in current football and in just two actions he made it clear to Reguilón that he was going to give him the night. In the first he ran into space and assisted Ferran Torres with the outside to equalize the contest and in the second he made a reverse that lifted Lluis Companys and left the former Atlético player and Real Madrid youth squad in the ditch. Ansu defined that play with the third goal and Abde closed the account for a Barça that began with many uncertainties from before the initial whistle but ended with the certainty of having a budding promise just around the corner.
2023-08-08 21:08:59
#Lamine #Yamal #performs #Gamper
