“Yes, we can,” Carlos Belmonte sang before the game started. The faith of the fans in their teams is usually infinite, even more so when just two weeks ago Real Madrid already lost in Albacete, perhaps a warning for Barcelona, which did not allow a second surprise, but just barelyand once again was a serious team in this competition despite the fact that the rival is from a lower category.
“Yes, it can be done,” the crowd insisted when after half an hour, the result was still tied without goals. The Cup champion and current leader of the League had control, as is logical, but was stuck. The ball circulation was slow and only the blows of Lamine Yamalonce again watched by two rivals, made the difference: an attempted filtered pass, a dribble… Rashford made a mistake in a drop shot that would have left Lewandowski alone, after a side-to-side pass from Lamine, and the Englishman later missed a clear shot after what pointed to an assist from Dani Olmo. Everything was almost as soon as it began. The Blaugrana became less, colder as time went by.
Albacete was not limited to just defending, and tried to take advantage of the spaces to run. He achieved it on several occasions, but he lacked some determination and to reach the attacking zone with more players. Despite everything, Agus Medina and Puertas tried, without creating any real danger. The most dangerous thing for Barça was that Cancelo saw a yellow card and made a couple of risky tackles. Flick saw it clearly and sat the Portuguese down at half-timethe winter reinforcement, so that Cubarsi came out and Eric, the wild card, moved to the right back.
“Yes, it can be done,” the fans insisted at the beginning of the second half. The result at that time was no longer 0-0. Lamine Yamal had broken it by very subtly completing a play between Rashford and De Jong. The action was quick, after a robbery. What Barcelona did not achieve against an orderly and well-planted defense, it achieved with pressure. This saved a lot of passes. Albacete was coming out and was left unprotected after losing the ball. With so many spaces, the Catalans put together the passes without much effort. The local team added two misfortunes in a row: the goal conceded and the injury to Neva, in a fortuitous action with Lamine Yamal, who slipped and collided with his rival, whose leg was caught.
Araujo’s first game as a starter
Barcelona’s second goal did not end the war cry of the Albacete fans either. Araujo scored the second by heading a corner kick and celebrated furiously. It was an important day for the Uruguayan, who took another step to return to normality. He had to stop for a month (December) due to mental health. He had already played some symbolic minutes, first, in the League and Cup. In the Champions League he already had a more important time and the game against Albacete was the first game in which he started, although he was not able to complete the entire duel, with cramps at the end that forced Flick to reorganize his defense again with the departure of Koundé. He had some cuts to correct, his great specialty due to his physique, and he also showed some doubts. The final result was satisfactory for him, but it is not yet complete.
Before the Barcelona centre-back’s header, Puertas had Albacete’s best opportunity, volleying a long throw-in. The ball came violently from the attacker’s foot, but bounced off De Jong’s head as he headed towards the goal. With the score at 0-2, it was Jefté, Real Madrid’s executioner, who had it as soon as he came out, but his shot went high, after getting rid of Araujo’s opposition. Albacete already had to go further with that score and the match opened up. Flick still didn’t trust him and Players like Fermín or Ferran came in as a refresher, who could be starters in any game.
“If possible”Carlos Belmonte continued until the end. It was not possible, the semi-finalist is Barça, but Albacete was close to the feat. Javi Moreno scored in ’87 and then not only the fans believed, but also the players. Fran Gámez finished wonderfully and when the score was 2-2, Gerard Martín put his head on the goal line and avoided extra time.
