BarcelonaVery expensive victory for Barça in the Champions League. Vital, yes, but also very costly due to injuries, which will have to be assessed as the hours pass, and with a controversial point due to Anthony Taylor’s decisions and VAR support. Next, some hot notes.
The needs of the script. Barça notices the effects of having one of the best midfielders of the present. None other than the captain of the last European champion, Guardiola’s City, a team that does not win precisely thanks to the epic. Gündogan had signed for Barca to increase the team’s performance in the three-quarters area, but he is so intelligent and multi-purpose that his best games have been made by dropping to the base to cover the hole caused by the injury of De Jong. With the German assistant Romeu in a creative phase, everything improved in Porto, even if Barça did not stop suffering at any time. So much so that he himself collected Romário’s gift before assisting Ferran Torres in the decisive goal.
Less gestures, Robert. Ferran came on in the first half for Lewandowski, who took a knock to the shin after a tackle that Taylor didn’t even call for a foul. The Pole arrived in Porto with the mandate to improve his performances in the demanding stages of the Champions League, but he could not recover from the unlucky nights in Munich and Milan last year. It’s true that he ended the game early, but it’s also true that while he was on the pitch, he didn’t find any better solutions than the ones the team knew how to generate without him. Lamine Yamal knows enough, more liberated when he didn’t have to hear his screams asking for the ball a few seconds after receiving it. Speaking of release, the young man from Rocafonda made his way to the dressing room in the second half to visit Mr. Roca. It is good that we humanize it.
A padlock on the back. If Barça ended the match in Porto without conceding, it was not because the locals did not get close to Ter Stegen, but because the performance of their central pair was brutal. Araujo and Kounde found themselves in a lineup for the first time in an official game this season and they rose to the occasion. The Uruguayan became a type of cutting balls and correcting ambushes on the back of Cancelo, who suffers a lot when the opposing side attacks with two men. Next to him, the Frenchman combined his usual ability to clear the ball with defensive actions of incalculable merit, such as the shot he stole from Pepé’s boot when he was already in goal. He recalled Mascherano against Arsenal in 2011.
Two favorable decisions. Kounde was Barça’s best defender in Porto. Now, he brought down Taremi in a first-half situation that Taylor could have perfectly punished as a penalty. Neither the British referee nor the VAR observed a penalty in a very risky entry by the Gaul in the small area. In the second half, the refereeing pair also favored the interests of the team, with 0-1 on the scoreboard and the home side overturned, when Cancelo touched the ball with his hand to avoid a control by Eustaquio in the area. The Portuguese full-back committed a penalty, but the VAR alerted to an alleged previous hand by the Porto player that moved the ball away from the 11-metre mark. At Do Dragão they have reason to complain. Of course, this arbitration somewhat compensates for the robbery at San Siro a year ago. Just a little, huh?
2023-10-04 21:00:57
#hot #notes #PortoBarça
