It doesn’t matter if it’s Bayern or Madrid or if the rival is called Red Star. It doesn’t matter if it is Girona, Vila-real or Belgrade. This Barça is synonymous with goals. Flick’s Barcelona is rewriting history. In recent years, the team had a hard time winning away from home. It’s water gone. Not only did he win but he scored. Once again in a season that started with a rush of goals, chances and a lot of pace.
There are now seven victories in a row, three of them in the Champions League where the Blaugrana are in the front pack as they present their credentials. Hardships are cured with new ambitious impulses. The kids from the youth team have fun while veterans like Iñigo, Lewandowski and Raphinha celebrate their goals and Koundé distributes assists.
From 1-2 to 1-4 in ten minutes
With a dizzying pace after the break, the Blaugrana make the second half of the derby forget
The Belgrade Marakana cannot be silenced. Barcelona has known that since the days of Maradona. Not even the Argentine’s goal, which meant 0-2, made the Red Star fans give up. And something similar happened 42 years later. Not even the fact that the Blaugrana went ahead in the 13th minute managed to silence the Serbian passion. A quick goal from the visitors, the best team in Europe, according to their coach Milojevic, was perhaps the worst-case scenario for the red and white team. But his fans, far from giving up, continued encouraging and provoking the reaction of their players.
The match began following the script of the classic and the derby. That is to say, with a goal annulled because Barça had once again caught their rival in the offside trap. Elsnik faced Iñaki Peña, who took him one-on-one with the goalkeeper being unlucky as the ball bounced off the Slovenian half and ended up in the back of the net. But the attendant had raised the flag. It was him offside number 100 that Flick’s team caused at the start of the season.
The mix
The young people have fun and are important and the veterans Iñigo, Lewandowski and Raphinha score
The play did not scare Barcelona, which coexists and accepts that risk to settle in the opposite field. The Blaugrana constantly found an active Lamine Yamal in attack, motivated by crossing paths with Maksimovic, the Serbian wonder boy who had challenged him. The winger appeared on his wing and finished the plays, testing goalkeeper Ilic. Despite the fact that the locals expected with a 4-5-1, Barça found the spaces well with clairvoyance with De Jong as a starter six and a half months later. The presence of the Dutchman made Pedri move ahead of the midfielder, because Casadó is almost untouchable right now.
Like the energetic Raphinha, who, to his display and love affair with goals, also adds his value in set pieces. The only foul that Red Star committed in the first half was fatal for their interests. The Brazilian put the ball into the area with a lot of venom for the entry of Iñigo Martínez, who crossed with his head to beat Ilic in the 13th minute.
Not only does Raphinha have double figures in goals but also in assists (10). He is so daring that he even tried an Olympic goal from a corner but found the post.
When Barcelona was most comfortable, what had to happen one day arrived. In a quick play, Krunic made a pass over the defense and Gerard Martín was pinned against Silas’ run. This time the winger, who was replacing Balde, did not throw the line well and the Congolese winger surpassed Iñaki Peña. The roar in the stadium left no doubt that the goal was valid.
The number 100
The match followed the same script as the classic and the derby and after 4 minutes a goal by Elsnik was disallowed for offside.
The tie before half an hour emboldened the stands and Red Star, who took it out on Lamine Yamal for not stopping an attack when there was a local footballer on the ground. The little Maracaná, now Rajko Mitic, roared, imagining a feat. But before the break and just after, the Barça forward spoiled the film.
All three intervened to put the Blaugrana ahead. Lamine Yamal started from the right, entered the area and gave it to Pedri, who plays with his eyes on his neck to see the arrival of Raphinha, a winger who plays inside. The Brazilian’s shot hit the base of the post but the rebound was collected by Lewandowski to score into an empty net, like the great goal hunter that he is.
The atmosphere was impossible to silence. The crowd did not stop, tireless, neither with the 1-2, nor with the 1-3 nor with the 1-5. But the slap of reality on the pitch reflected the distance that currently exists between the 1991 European champions and those of 1992.
If anyone was worried about Barça’s relaxation in the second half of the derby, Flick’s team satisfied their coach with a stormy exit after passing through the locker room. Lewandowski had two great chances but he ran into Ilic’s hands with his head and then, with his right, he didn’t hit an ideal position. But the Pole can forgive twice but not three times. Pedri paused again on the edge of the area to find Koundé on the wing and the Frenchman’s center was finished off by the nine, always with the cannon ready.
The crossbar prevented the Huelva player from scoring the sixth
Koundé distributed three assists, the last one for Fermín to debut his locker this season
Central converted into a winger, Koundé disguised himself as a winger to put on his boots as a triple assistant. The fourth was given to Raphinha, who secured it with a shot from the inside of that powerful left foot, and the fifth was given to Fermín, who scored his first goal and scored another victory. Because although Milson surprised Iñaki Peña with a great thread (celebrated with many sparklers), Fermín was even able to make the sixth. In the Champions League as in the League, Flick’s Barça is the goal king, and he had the pleasure in Belgrade of making Maradona and Schuster’s 2-4 score small.
Technical sheet
Red Star, 2 – Barcelona, 5
Red Star: IIlic, Seol, Spajic, Djiga, Rodic (Milson 59), Kanga (Dalcio 72), Elsnik, Krunic, Silas (Prutsev 82), Maksimovic (Ilic 72), Ndiaye (Katai 82).
Coach: Vladan Milojevic
Barcelona: Iñaki Peña, Koundé, Cubarsí (Sergi Domínguez 67), Iñigo Martínez, Gerard Martín, De Jong (Gavi 67), Casadó, Lamine Yamal, Pedri (Fermín 58), Raphinha (Dani Olmo 58), Lewandowski (Pau Víctor 78).
Coach: Hansi Flick
Stadium: Rajko Mitic from Belgrade. About 51,000 spectators.
Referee: Espen Eskas (Norway).
Cards: Yellows to Ndiaye and Spajic.
Goals: 0-1 Iñigo Martínez (13); 1-1 Silas (27); 1-2 Lewandowski (43); 1-3 Lewandowski (53); 1-4 Raphinha (55); 1-5: Fermin (76); 2-5 Milson (84)
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