The Barcelona match against Barbastro was started by Xavi winning due to the attitude with which his players took to the field, but it ended with a bittersweet taste in his mouth, bad even, disconcerting, because despite his desire he did not close the match when he could, when The chances continued, and they condemned themselves to a time of unnecessary suffering in the second half, to end up winning 2-3 (you can see the scorecard and the minute by minute here), again by the minimum.
The coach seems to have run out of patience and the lineup he showed against a Second Federation team was a declaration of intent. There were no veteran footballers with a heavy load of matches, like Gündogan and Lewandowski (although they came on in the second half), but there were a handful of footballers who are going to be in the big battles: De Jong, Araujo, Joao Félix, Ferran Torres… He wanted to send a message that the Cup is a competition that matters to him and the footballers seemed to understand it. From the first moment Barcelona came out to bite their rival. The experiences of similar situations in recent years were a sign, Barça always qualified, but suffering, in overtime, and they did not want history to repeat itself. He didn’t, but he wasn’t that far off.
Furthermore, the Barça team is not there for jokes either after starring in a League with many ups and downs and many disconnections, hence duels like the one against Barbastro take on a greater dimension. The footballers understood it, very involved from the start to put pressure and turn the first half into a monologue. Barbastro barely managed to cross the rival field and dedicated themselves to defending themselves as best they could, with pride and a lot of sweat. The ball didn’t last long in his possession. Oriol Romeu, Fermín, De Jong recovered it… The Dutchman starred in some drives in which he covered half the field and left half the rival team behind.
Barça has no aim
The opportunities began to follow one another: Ferran, Joao Félix, Raphinha… Only the lack of aim and the interventions of the goalkeeper Fábregas left the score at zero, until Fermín did not forgive. The play started on the right, where Raphinha gave his all. He is one of the footballers who is under scrutiny for his latest performances and he woke up. There he found a gap through which he entered again and again. In the end he found the goal, at the beginning of the second half, after a pass from Héctor Fort. The youth player played at left back (Balde was finally out due to illness, Marcos Alonso is injured) and was the only strange element, but he had a good performance.
This second goal could have been the end, but on the contrary, it was the beginning of a new match. He had done it before, when Gonpi shot on goal for the first time. Little by little, Barça began to disconnect from the game and Barbastro, who already had Soule on the field, became encouraged. De Mesa’s goal convinced the local team even more.
It was in a corner that Joao Félix gave away, perhaps the one who least understood that the game was serious. He played poorly and was protesting. What in the first half was a monologue, became a duel with two teams with options. The Aragonese team put pressure higher and doubts began to arise at the back, where Araujo had some mistakes, but also some good plays of anticipation. Lewandowski and Gündogan came on and the Turk gave away another corner. Gonpi had the second with a header, the game became tangled, with many fouls, with the stands putting more and more pressure and shouting the famous “Yes, we can.” Iñigo Martínez reappeared… And he was injured again after eleven minutes. Barcelona continued to waste opportunities: Vitor Roque came on and didn’t make a sound, Ferran Torres missed a clear one, Lewandowski didn’t notice. The Pole did coolly convert a penalty with three minutes left… But that wasn’t enough either because there was another maximum penalty in the other area that Prat took advantage of. Barça ended the night on nerves, with Óscar Hernández, the second coach, expelled. Chaos in a team that does not scare away ghosts.
2024-01-07 22:38:10
#Barcelona #suffers #defeat #Barbastro
