Barcelona did not need more than 12 minutes to score five goals. Nor a great game to continue scoring, as is usual in the League and as they are becoming accustomed to in the Champions League. Against the Austrian St. Pölten, champions in their country, it was difficult for them at the beginning, blocked by a strong defensive wall that the azulgranas could not break. But Ewa Pajor opened the can and the rest of her teammates followed her, until burying the rival – who barely left her field – with seven goals from six different scorers.
FCBFFC Barcelona Women
7
Cata Coll, Ona Batlle (Esmee Brugts, min. 67), Ingrid Engen, Jana Fernández, Marta Torrejón, Aitana Bonmatí (Alexia Putellas, min. 57), Kika Nazareth, Keira Walsh (Patri Guijarro, min. 67), Ewa Pajor (Caroline Hansen, min. 57), Vicky López and Clàudia Pina (Alba Pipe, min. 77)
0
Carina Schlüter, Chiara D’Angelo, Kamila Dubcová, Rita Schumacher, Anna Johanning, Tea Vracevic, Melanie Brunnthaler, Sophie Hillebrand, Melike Pekel, Mária Mikolajová (Tea Krznaric, min. 45) and Valentina Mädl (Andrea Glibo, min. 72)
Goals
1-0 min. 31: Ewa Pajor. 2-0 min. 37: Kika Nazareth. 3-0 min. 39: Aitana Bonmatí. 4-0 min. 41: Keira Walsh. 5-0 min. 44: Claudia Pina. 6-0 min. 51: Claudia Pina. 7-0 min. 86: Caroline Hansen
The most recognizable Barça of this season returned home after beating Atlético and confirming its first league place, in the middle of a week marked by the classic next weekend. For this reason, Pere Romeu opted for rotations, with six changes in the starting eleven: he left Graham Hansen, Alexia Putellas, Mapi León, Irene Paredes or Esmee Brugts on the bench, and opted for Jana Fernández, Ingrid Engen as a center back accompanied by Marta Torrejón, the young Vicky López and the newcomer Kika Nazareth. As a pivot, instead of Patri Guijarro, he had the English Keira Walsh. In front of them, St. Pölten, leader in the Austrian League and champions of the last nine, but last in the group after losing to Hammarby and Manchester City, a team that defeated and neutralized Barcelona itself. The objective for the culés was clear: it was not only about winning, but also about scoring goals.
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And once again, they did it. The Austrian players – with a very short squad, only 15 available – got off the bus seriously. They knew what was in store for them: Barça with a monopoly on the ball and possession, and perhaps the goal. But it cost. It seemed that the Barça B starting eleven did not fit together, with a lack of ideas and a rough and choppy game. On the one hand, to the credit of St. Pölten, they were very closed at the back, with a line of five in defense compressed and erected like a wall, but which did not touch Cata Coll’s goal. On the other hand, to the detriment of Barcelona, who did not take advantage of the width of the field, with Pina and Vicky positioned as wingers, but more accustomed to playing inside.
But the Austrian shield that protected the goal and the scoreboard was broken in the 32nd minute: Ewa Pajor, the number nine that Barcelona had been looking for for years, glancingly pushed a cross from Ona Batlle into the back of the goal to unclog the match. The rest of the goals came with more fluidity, and the number on the scoreboard did not stop rising until St. Pölten was bled dry: in 12 minutes the azulgranas reached the lead, and opened the second half with another penalty goal from Pina. The bad feelings of the first half hour disappeared, and with the game more than resolved, Barça wandered with the ball looking for the goal again, something that only the unstoppable Graham Hansen achieved. Because at Barcelona they always look for one more goal, whether it is necessary or not.
