Barça got rid of a new upset this Sunday. The team led by Xavi beat Cádiz 2-0 at the Lluis Companys in a game in which once again the blaugranas did not show the best feelings. The culés were superior, but sometimes Ledesma and others the lack of rhythm in attack led to the uncertainty of the clash until the final stretch. Pedri, after a millimeter pass from Gundogan, and Ferran Torres, already in discount, changed the script of the match and gave the first three points to a Barcelona that is still in the beta phase.
With a poker face. This is how the Lluis Companys fan was left when he saw Xavi’s first eleven in his new stadium in the League. The Tarrasa coach could not count on Ronald Araujo due to physical problems and the response to the Uruguayan’s absence was a true revolution. The man from Egar, who had to watch the match from the stands due to his expulsion in Getafe, opted to bring on Frenkie de Jong in the center of the rear and to make room for Lamine Yamal on the attack front along with Robert Lewandowski.
Barcelona
Ter Stegen; Koundé, Christensen (Eric García, min. 79), Balde (Ansu Fati, min. 69); Oriol Romeu (Serig Roberto, min. 79), Frenkie de Jong, Pedri, Gündogan, Gavi (Abde, min. 68); Lamine Yamal (Ferran Torres, min. 85) and Lewandowski
2
–
0
Cadiz
Ledesma; Iza Carcelén, Fali, Luis Hernández, Javi Hernández; San Emeterio (Nephew, min. 68), Alcaraz, Álex Fernández (Negredo, min. 86), Alejo (Darwin Machís, min. 68); Ramos (Osmajic, min. 86) and Roger Martí (José Mari, min. 86).
-
goals
1-0: min. 82, Pedro. 2-0: min. 90+4, Ferran Torres. -
Referee
Muñiz Ruiz (C. Gallego). He admonished Alejo, Frenkie de Jong, Ter Stegen, San Emeterio, Gavi, Pedri and Javi Hernández. -
incidents
Match played at the Lluis Companys Stadium in front of 39,603 spectators
It was an asymmetrical eleven, with Balde permanently in the opposite field, with Oriol Romeu waiting to cover his back and with a clear vocation for attack. And it is that the culés came out with the knife between their teeth, ready to stand up to a hobby that continues to not see with pleasure that of spending the whole year away from the Camp Nou.
The novelty of the eleven did not prevent Barça from quickly taking control thanks to the midfield made up of Romeu, Gündogan, Pedri and Gavi. Between the four they entrenched Cádiz and gave fluidity to the game. They were the engine and Yamal the vertigo. The youth squad player, barely 16 years old, was the most unbalancing player in the first half and the best chances for the Catalans came from his boots.
Oriol Romeu tried his luck from afar, Pedri and Lewandowski each had chances at their heads and Yamal, omnipresent, had the best of all. He stood alone against Conan Ledesma but the Argentine goalkeeper read his intentions and sent the ball in for a corner when Lluis Companys was already licking his lips. It was the best moment of some somewhat accelerated culés, who played on the cornice and who were still going to have to entrust Ter Stegen after Balde had a loss of the ball at the start. Roger Martí stole his wallet but ultimately ran into the German goalkeeper who, with his cape on, saved the furniture before going through the changing rooms.
Abuse of lateral centers
After the restart the trend continued. Cádiz remained withdrawn, comfortable, and Barça abused time and again lateral centers that could not find Lewandowski’s head, absent throughout the entire clash. Barça was inoperative, it was thick in attack and urgently needed Xavi to stir up the hornet’s nest with the bench players. Chris Ramos was able to add to the problem with a shot that went just wide and was the final straw for Xavi. The man from Tarrasa, phone in hand, brought on Ansu Fati and Abde instead of Gavi and Balde to reconfigure his team towards a 3-4-3 with which to carry out a total siege on Conan Ledesma’s goal in the last twenty minutes.
The changes meant a change of pace for Barcelona, which stopped being a flat, predictable team. Abde and Yamal stuck to the sides and Ansu Fati tried to appear between the lines, there where the culés had barely created problems throughout the entire clash. That was how they managed to open up an extremely orderly Cádiz once and for all.
Gündogan emerged in the three-quarter zone and filtered a millimeter pass for Pedri who appeared from the second line, where Xavi has asked him to do so many times, to define below and circumvent the exit of a Conan Ledesma who seemed unbeatable. The goal was a liberation for the Catalans and Ferran Torres into space completed the victory with a running goal that puts him, or at least he hopes so, on Xavi’s radar.
#Barça #avoids #suffocation