Own goals also serve to win those games in which the forwards cannot find the goal no matter how hard midfielders as lucid and complete as Fermín try. To the rescue of Barça came none other than Sergio Ramos, who put a header from Lamine Yamal into the goal of his teammate Nyland that looked more like a drop shot than a shot after a very good cross from Ferran. The lack of forcefulness delayed the Barça victory in their fort of Montjuïc. The Olympic Stadium is currently therapeutic for Barcelona after such tiring outings as those in Getafe and Mallorca. The Blaugrana were reunited with the victory and also with the 1-0, that result repeated up to 11 times in the last League, last night a stingy score if the bet and daring football of Xavi’s team is taken into account. Barcelona also defended itself better and Sevilla lacked time and a striker like En-Nesyri.
1
Ter Stegen, Koundé, Alex Balde, Cancelo, A. Christensen, Raphinha (Fermín López, min. 36), Gavi, Gündogan, João Félix (Ferrán Torres, min. 71), Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal
0
Ørjan Haskjold Nyland, Sergio Ramos, Adrià Pedrosa (Suso, min. 82), Juanlu Sanchez (Jesús Navas, min. 82), Loic Bade, Djibril Sow (Fernando, min. 66), Joan Jordán, Rakitic, Lamela (Mariano, min. 75), Lucas Ocampos and Lukebakio (Marcos Acuña, min. 75)
Goals 1-0 min. 75: Sergio Ramos (pp).
Referee Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias
Yellow cards Cancelo (min. 45), Juanlu Sanchez (min. 50), Lamela (min. 52), Loic Bade (min. 89) and Gündogan (min. 92)
Perhaps because the team is conditioned by the need to attack and please, Barça started the game with four forwards—not four midfielders—and two full-backs as offensive as Cancelo and Balde. Lamine Yamal finally dressed as a starter, Raphinha became an interior player and Koundé and Christensen regained their positions in the center of defense to the detriment of Araujo. Center midfielder Oriol Romeu did not play either. It didn’t seem like Xavi was rotating players, but rather he was shaking up the team after running aground in Mallorca. The line-up seemed to announce more the end of a match that the Blaugrana needed to come back from than a match to be played against an expert and tough rival like Sevilla. The plan was activated from the very start when Yamal narrowly missed a Balde center after a neat display by Barça. The play, however, had little continuity even though the Blaugrana did not stop moving around Gündogan.
Barça’s football lacked ball speed and interior passing to open up Sevilla’s defense. And when Cancelo passed the ball to João Félix, the striker’s shot bounced off Nyland’s crossbar. The game depended for better and worse on Barça. Sevilla was waiting for the Barça losses to set up the counterattack and target Ter Stegen as confirmed by a shot by Rakitic.
There is no longer a team that does not know about Barça’s defensive concessions. Just when Sevilla was encouraged, however, two Barcelona transitions took place that narrowly missed the goal, as they were overwhelmed before both Raphinha and Lewandowski finished off. The match turned into an exchange of blows from which Sevilla was about to take advantage when Gavi took a shot from Ocampos with his chest under the goal line. The strong rhythm broke Raphinha. Yamal was not fine either. The Blaugrana lived above all on Cancelo’s depth compared to Ramos and Badé. The entry of Fermín increased the spice of the clash and tipped the match in favor of Barça.
The scoreboard, however, remained still, insensitive to the best chances of the Blaugrana, increasingly decimated by the injuries of Raphinha, Pedri and De Jong. Barça’s game has become vertical due to the lack of midfielders and Xavi’s decision. He has less control, is less positional, runs more kilometers and is more exposed as was demonstrated with Sevilla’s opportunities. The rest, on the other hand, felt like a shot because he came out untempered, very out of the game, until he picked up the thread again from players like Fermín, Cancelo and Gavi, increasingly hierarchical and leader of Barça. Even Yamal started haggling a few meters away from Nyland.
Although it was not difficult to connect with Lewandowski, the striker was too slow in the Sevilla area. There was no one to finish the plays mostly made up of a total midfielder like Fermín, excellent in passing and driving, a good interpreter of the needs of a match in which Sevilla was increasingly a spectator, pending the changes from Mendilibar. João Félix, on the other hand, was replaced again by Ferran. The Valencian was decisive because his cross at the far post was touched by Yamal and finished off by Ramos.
A goal that filled the Barça fans with happiness because of Ramos’ Real Madrid past and Sevilla’s dispute with Barça over him. Negreira Case. Although in the end they took the ball and surrounded Barça, the Andalusians found no accommodation either in the box or on the field against a brave Barça.
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