Slow brewing

1SLOW PREPARATION

Barça and Villarreal tried not to get into defensive problems. The blaugrana with the ball, the yellow team tries not to make technical mistakes. Barça started the rivalry better but it was less so in this desperate first half.

And I write bitterly because the construction game is so late as it is predictable. Only Lamine maintained the threat, invented dribbles, but always for his individual quality. Koundé did not ‘read’ the winger’s football and Marcelino’s men were able to maintain order at the back.

It was certainly Lamine and Joao Félix who tested Jörgensen while Lewandowski continued to err in and out of the opposition area. When the visiting team decided to start stretching the lines, they realized they could achieve more than a tie. With the three attackers, Gerard Moreno, IIias and Sorloth, the ghosts were taken/arrived in the Blaugrana area. The goal was disallowed and, a few minutes later, the legal goal was scored by Gerard Moreno. That was the wonderful result of three approaches to the Iñaki Peña area.

At 0-1, minute 41′, Xavi is already thinking about how and with whom to revolutionize the team.

2. Barça triggered euphoria

With Cancelo, Cubarsí and Pedri, the Blaugrana played the game the fans asked for. They caught the ball, played faster and, then yes, we saw champion team football.

Cubarsí started cleanly, Pedri quickened the pass in the three/quarter field and even Gündogan was changed. To himself, he would say – have I returned to the City? And the machinery began to work, the ball rolled quickly, Lamine received and faced Alberto Moreno directly (until Marcelino replaced him) and the job began to get complicated for Bailly, Cuenca, Coquelin, Comesaña and other players. Despite the 0-2 scoreline with a gift from Cancelo to IIias Akhomach, that Barça football can yield any result. And the great comeback took place because the pace and rhythm of the game and pressure were the foundations of belief. Montjuïc didn’t let go of the spoon either and with Gündogan’s goal, a beautiful inside left footed shot, Xavi’s team was let loose.

3. Not stitched

In less than 12 minutes the Blaugrana team turned it around with Ferran also on the pitch.

Pedri first made it 2-2, three minutes later, in the 71st minute, Araujo went in with his header and Bailly closed his eyes and scored an own goal. Brutal football response and goals unfortunately tarnished by what we saw next. A great final penalty watching the wonderful game of Lamine, Cubarsí, Gündogan and Pedri.

Villarreal were sunk in their own half, at the mercy of Barça, and Marcelino decided to put on more defensive muscle to stop the bleeding with Mosquera and Capue. The Blaugrana’s rhythm of thought and ball slowed down and the unexpected came when Guedes and Morales (two sprinters) came in to counterpunch. A blow to the effort with Guedes’ own 3-3 and a cruel defeat when Sorloth took advantage of a defensive mess in the Barça area. Iñaki Peña was overwhelmed in the final minutes of the game.

Barça went for the fourth and found the fifth yellow goal (by Guedes) scored by Morales. The game like the season: spectacular phases, painful minutes due to repeated defensive fragility.