Raphinha’s big night was the night in which Barcelona became bigger in Europe, (you can see here the file and the minute by minute of PSG, 2 – Barcelona, 3) after years of getting smaller and smaller until it was no longer one of the best teams on the continent. It’s not that it is now, you can’t go from zero to a hundred, but games like the one he played in at the Parc des Princes are a clear step forward.
Beyond debates about style and aesthetics, Barcelona played a football match in every sense: a duel in which you have to know how to play well in favorable moments, defend when necessary, go on the counterattack, look for the game direct if necessary… And there was a time when he walked a tightrope, when at the beginning of the second half PSG came out on top, scored two goals in one moment and turned the score around. He threatened more, but Barcelona resisted in those moments and knew how to recover.
Dembélé had scored, a great goal, “friendly” fire from the former, typical. And he is a footballer who does not have goals as his main virtue either. There was a lack of forcefulness in Barcelona’s defense on that goal: in Araujo’s clearance and in De Jong’s tension with the scorer. Then Vitinha was right, one of the best on his team because of the mobility he has and how he made his team work. It was a great collective action.
The pessimistic Barça fans thought: “Again.” But Xavi moved the bench and it turned out well. Pedri reappeared and the first ball he touched was an assist to Raphinha, so that he finished in a very complicated and unorthodox way, but perfect as the ball arrived to him.
It was the second for the Brazilian, who in the first half culminated a great group action by Barça, which Cubarsi started, extraordinary in getting the ball out, giving clarity and breaking lines of pressure every time, and which Lewandowski continued. The forward gave a performance without scoring: he won the duels against the center backs and turned around. That time he opened the game to Lamine Yamal, and the kid’s cross ended up being scored by Raphinha.
A reward for the game he was already playing. He is a highly discussed player in Barcelona. He cost what he cost, but that is not his fault: in the field he gives what he has, he leaves everything and for that little can be reproached him. He is the first to run 50 meters into space, forward in a counterattack, or backward to help the side.
Barcelona played a great first half and only lacked clarity at the end. First he ran and then he commanded, after a somewhat overwhelmed start. PSG threatened on that return from the break, but Raphinha’s second gave way to a back-and-forth match.
More open party
There, too, Barça knew how to handle itself and had the football gods on its side. If Pedri did magic on the first ball he touched, Christensen put his head into a corner to score the third. It was also the first time he came into contact with the ball. Just a moment before, Dembélé had crashed a ball into the post. The Barça team was engaged, those who were there and those who came in, like Joao Félix, ready for a match as physical as the one at that moment. Xavi’s boys also suffered with the speed of Barcola, who had come on after the break and is a bullet.
Mbappé, missing
He had to spend the last few minutes more behind Barcelona, and he spent them with some solvency. There was good news and bad news for the Spanish team: Mbappé barely appeared. The most dangerous thing was a shot from outside the area, right at the end. The problem is that it is difficult for him to throw two matches in a row so invisible. In addition, neither Sergi Roberto nor Christensen will be able to be in the return leg, due to an accumulation of cards.
2024-04-10 21:55:59
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