Despite his terribly weak (offensive) play, Barça managed to score three points against 19th-ranked Alavés, as the seemingly hopeless dominance was scored by the end of the match at the end of a nice hand. Frenkie de Jong’s goal came at the end of an attack played to the extreme, but there was practically no more in the match, Barcelona was unable to change his lead to real situations, so he only suffered while Alavés missed his few but great chances. With his victory, the team is already 5th in the table.
As for the starting team, Xavi didn’t have much surprises, as he didn’t have much of a dive again. Although several people returned after an injury last week (Dest, Pedri, Fati), the latter, for example, was injured again in an unfortunate way, so she is now waiting to decide if it is necessary to have surgery on her thigh – if so, that would be the end of his season – Memphis, Roberto, Umtiti, Garcia were not healthy and Gavi was banned. Pedri, who could not stand the cup match in Bilbao but did not have another injury, only asked to be replaced due to fatigue, Luuk de Jong was re-enrolled, as Dembélé was no longer a welcome guest in the frame and Dest also started as a right-back, after Alves played the cup match in Bilbao on Thursday.
The image of the match for a Barcelona fan was hardly surprising against a smaller team, especially since Xavi returned: the team sought full dominance, practically not allowing the ball to get to Alavés, but again the opponent’s goal was not under fire, situations were rare. The Pedriys already had 80% possession of the ball in the middle of the half and passed 4-5x more, they were absolutely superior from the corner, so we were really constantly waiting for this superiority to reach the goal, but at least to dangerous situations. That was not the case.
Xavi’s idea seemed to be to open up empty areas behind the defense with continuous side shifts and long balls, but Alavés defended so compactly that he didn’t let anything in, and the team showed virtually nothing out of creativity and unexpected solutions to make it happen. antidote. Around the 15th minute there was a relatively unexpected ball behind the defense from Pedri, which Luuk de Jong kicked next to him from a bite, and at the end of the promising-looking counter in the 32nd minute, Torres shot over, perhaps hastily, but Barcelona had half-time, superiority he remained completely barren. Alavés only had a chance to get around the 16th from point kicks on the other side, as the Barcelona players weren’t in the mood for a gift now – thankfully. However, at the end of the half, after the loss of Ferran Torres, the home team could still have scored from their first position in a counter-attack after a very slow attempt to close Barça, but Pere Pons only kicked the ball into ter Stegen.
The rebound went to Barça who failed to hit the target after 77 minutes, with a brilliant pass to the top of the page. he could have scored.
Barcelona’s goal almost came in the sequel, Abde got a nice start from Frenkie de Jong, but Luuk was just behind his center, as in the 64th minute, after a free kick, the Dutch arrived at the goal with a shot, but his home goal was defended by the home goalkeeper. . Beyond the two positions, Barça continued to suffer, unable to put pressure on Alavés, so the situations did not come either. The no-draw was a perfect result for Alavés, and they had tried their luck in the second half and could have scored in the 78th minute. and the sleeping Destet was overtaken by Joselu, but his head went beside him.
Xavi didn’t have too much room for variation on the bench, but he brought down the two people, Abde and Luuk de Jong, who posed some kind of danger around Alave 16, because if not elsewhere, Luuk de Jong could be trusted by a pass… Eventually Xavi was right, at least without them. And in the end, it wasn’t Nico and Jutglá who took the lead in Barcelona’s superiority without a big goal, but three players who didn’t have a very good match at last: Alba curved right behind the defenders with the right pace. starting the ball for Ferran Torres, who scored a close-up shot by Frenki de Jong, 0-1!
The Hungarians no longer had the opportunity to answer this, so the Dutch midfielder’s goal was decided, with which Barça scored at least three points. But that was the bare minimum, as team play is still very predictable, attackers are safe and so few options developed against a team expected to be eliminated in the second division are simply not acceptable. Whether we all know, Xavi and the team still need patience and patience. For one thing is not to score goals, but to play well and be superior; and another thing to pass hopelessly for 85 minutes. You have to start something with the latter in the short term.
In any case, thanks to the victory, the team got air, it also moved up the table and came up to the 5th place and behind the 3rd Bet is only 5 points behind (playing one game less). And now it will be two weeks to prepare for the sequel – in that time we should definitely move forward, because in the EL against Napoli it will be little and with such a game the fourth place goal in the league will be in jeopardy.
Deportivo Alaves – FC Barcelona 0-1 (0-0)
La Liga, Round 22
Mendizorrotza Stadium, Vitoria
14,056 views
Led by Jorge Figueroa Vazquez
Alaves: Pacheco – Aguirregabiria, Laguardia, Lejeune, Javi López – Jason, Escalante, Pere Pons, Pina, Rioja – Joselu.
Barcelona: ter Stegen – Dest, Araújo, Piqué, Jordi Alba – Frenkie de Jong, Busquets, Pedri (Lenglet 90 ‘) – Ferran Torres, Luuk de Jong, Abde.
Goal: Frenkie de Jong 87′.
Yellow cards: –
Statistics from whoscored.com
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