2023-08-20 21:32:28
BarcelonaBarça had missed the goal. He didn’t know at what point he had disappeared, but he was one step away from starting his title defense with two goalless draws. It would have hurt. Luckily he got it back when the ghosts of criticism were already hovering over the stadium, when the clock was running too fast. Out of a moment of magic from Pedri, with one of those runs into the heart of the rival area in which the canary finds a hole where the others see concrete. A prize for the patience of Gündogan, who does not burn the ball at his feet, author of the assist. Between the two, they removed the fear of repeating the events of Getafe, still very present in the flesh of Barcelona fans. The new life at the Olympic Stadium is off to a good start. Suffering too much, but on good footing. And this, despite the nerves and mistakes of a team that can’t remember the last time Lewandowski looked like a Ballon d’Or candidate. The goals had to be scored by Pedri and Ferran when the night was already closed.
But Barça is not comfortable. The win should allow him to improve, but he still looks like a young man the first time he’s forced to wear a tie. The schedule forced the champions to open with two consecutive games against two teams as complicated as going to a dentist who uses pliers to pull teeth. Cadiz doesn’t play as dirty as Getafe, but they also know how to play with the clock and roll around their goalkeeper. And what a goalkeeper, the Argentinian Ledesma. Two prodigious hands left Lamine Yamal one step away from being the first Barça player to score a goal in Montjuïc in an official match since Messi in 2009. Because Xavi was brave, making Lamine play as a starter. It does not matter that he is 16 years old, one less than Messi when he made his debut in the same stadium against Espanyol. When a young man from La Masia is hungry and not afraid, you can’t put chains on him. His first part was exciting.
Xavi, suspended, had decided to tweak things to see if the team could find holes in the yellow wall and elevate the game above what had been seen in Getafe. Without Ronald Araujo, he recycled De Jong as central to give the first title this season to an always revolutionized Gavi. Thus Gündogan approached Oriol Romeu, the key to the midfield. The bet worked half-heartedly. If Ledesma wasn’t so nimble, Lamine Yamal could have scored a couple of times in a match where he went from high to low. Everything would have been different, but the ball didn’t go in and the nerves came. The Olímpic saw a Barça on the move, a bit hasty and with their ankles covered in mud. If years ago Sergio Busquets, who is in the Americas winning titles with Messi, was Barça’s thermometer, now it seems to be Pedri. When the canary caressed the ball, Cadiz became small. But Pedri still seems a little lost, trying to figure out where to attack. Barça need more of him, as was clear with five minutes to go. As he took a step forward, the opposing wall collapsed.
Whenever you face a team of Sergio González you know that they will have to suffer. And so it was. In fact, two clear defensive mistakes, one of them by Balde, gave Cadiz the chance to score on the counter. But Ter Stegen became a giant in the shadow of the Olympic player and showed that he has returned from the holidays with the same success as last season. Get out of him, or the damage could have been even worse.
The crowd that climbed up to the magical mountain, almost 40,000, went from complicit laughter at discovering a new stage to pulling their hair out. The referee did not penalize Cádiz’s time-wasting, Fali crunches a Lewandowski who keeps getting fouled, without it being an excuse for his worrying level of play. And when Barça got inside the area, there was a lack of aim. As in Getafe, wow. With matches like this, a stadium becomes a living, breathing and suffering animal. And more than cheering, the Olympic Stadium despaired with each unfinished play, with each visiting foul, with each ball that did not reach a Lewandowski turned into a soul in sorrow, too alone, too isolated.
With the memory of the events of Getafe too fresh, Barça fell into the opponent’s trap, with a game that was too hasty, and saw up to three cards to protest. Xavi, aware that time had become an enemy, removed from his mind Gavi, always lost in a thousand battles, and a Balde with little spark and bet on Ansu and Ez Abde. A hero was being sought as Cadiz stung with lethal counters. And the hero would be Pedri. How much Barça need the canary to fall in love again in every game. As his connection with Gündogan promises. Once they met, it was light. Walls fell and doubts went away, and this allowed Ferran to take advantage of the few minutes he had to make it 2-0 on the counter, assisted by a Lewandowski who will have to improve if he wants to keep playing every game.
FC Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Kounde, Christensen (Eric Garcia, 80′), De Jong, Balde (Ez Abde, 68′), Oriol Romeu (Sergi Roberto, 80′), Gündogan, Pedri, Gavi (Ansu Fati, 68′ ), Lamine Yamal (Ferran Torres, 85′) and Lewandowski. Cadiz CF: Conan Ledesma, Carcelen, Fali, Luís Hernández, Javier Hernández, Chris Ramos (Negredo, 86′), San Emeterio (Sobrino, 68′), Alcaraz, Ivan Alejo (Machis, 68′), Álex (Osmajic, 86 ‘) and Roger Martí (José Mari, 86′). Goals: 1-0 Pedri (82′) and 2-0 Ferran Torres (94′). Referee: Alejandro Muñiz Ruiz (Galicia). Yellow cards: Alejo (14′), De Jong (26′), Ter Stegen (26′), San Emeterio (46′), Gavi (47′), Pedri (75′) and Javier Hernández (95’). Red cards: None. Stadium: Olímpic Lluís Companys, 39,603 spectators.
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