2023-10-23 00:36:14
Barcelona beat Athletic Bilbao with a name of its own, that of Marc Guiu. The young youth squad, just 17 years old, entered the field of play in the second half and in just one minute he changed the face of a match that was destined to end goalless. His goal made Lluis Companys explode and restored the smile to a team that is fully involved in the fight for the leadership of the League.
Xavi warned about the pressure in Athletic’s opposite field and he was right. At the start, the game was all the warnings that the player from Terrasa issued in the previous one. Athletic came out overwhelming, biting at the top, with Williams and Sancet as their flag and Barça, meanwhile, with the handbrake on, trying to tame the beasts, which in this case were lions. The culés put an eleven into the fray with new features. Íñigo Martínez accompanied Christensen at the back, Ferran Torres regained the role of right winger and Fermín López took the place of Lewandowski as a false nine, an unprecedented position for him since he landed in the first team.
The experiment at the beginning did not alter the roadmap of a Barça whose first objective was to stop the momentum of an Athletic team eager to move forward. Valverde’s men are a brave team, who do not understand protocols, and at the first opportunity they stood in the opposite field and warned the champion with two blows that forced Ter Stegen to stretch even before the somewhat cold Lluis Companys, It will start with the first songs. It was a wake-up call for Xavi’s team, who were going to have to plug in immediately if they did not want to repeat setbacks like those suffered in Granada two weeks before.
Barcelona
Ter Stegen; Cancelo, Christensen (Araujo, min. 60), Iñigo, Balde (Marcos Alonso, min. 79); Gavi, Oriol Romeu (Lamine Yamal, min. 60), Gündogan; Fermín (Marc Guiu, min. 79), Ferran Torres, Joao Félix
1
–
0
Athletic
Unai; De Marcos, Vivian, Paredes, Yuri (Lekue, min. 26); Ruiz de Galarreta (Prados, min. 67), Dani García (Unai Gómez, min. 77); Iñaki, Sancet, Nico (Berenguer, min. 77); Guruzeta (Ares, min. 67).
Goal min.80, Marc Guiu.
Referee Juan Martínez Munuera (Madrid Committee). He warned Gavi, Dani García, Oriol Romeu, Ares, Marc Guiu and De Marcos.
Incidents Match played at the Lluis Companys before 38,194 spectators
On this occasion, Barça did react. The Blaugrana overcame the rival pressure thanks to the good judgment of Íñigo Martínez and Christensen. Thus they modified the scenario of the clash and began to forge the first arrivals at the rival area. It was there that Xavi’s plan emerged, which installed Ferran very open in the right-handed profile and Balde with freedom to face De Marcos again and again. Between the two of them they generated the best culés chances in the first half. The former City player gave a ball to Joao Félix, who hit the crossbar, and the youth player gave another to Fermín López who was met with a save more typical of handball than football by Unai Simón. They were the two local surprises before a break that was reached with Ter Stegen saving the furniture against the interns of Nico Williams.
After the restart, Barça continued to balance. The culés dominated the ball but each loss of the ball was a dizzying transition in which the Williams spread panic. Iñaki shot into the side of the net after a new ball behind the center backs and Unai Simón appeared again after a shot on the turn from Joao Félix. Xavi didn’t like what he was seeing, the match was a toss-up, and he didn’t need to arrive at game time to shake the shaker. He introduced Araujo and Lamine Yamal, delayed Fermín López to the creation zone and prepared for a final stretch of a fast-paced encounter with swords at the top.
Xavi’s changes were the first step to spur a team that still had not found its best version. Yamal and Cancelo tested Unai Simón and Lluis Companys little by little began to improve as Athletic gave up meters, one after the other. Xavi looked at the scoreboard, shook his head and rushed to burn all the ships, including those that no one was counting on. And next to him was a beardless Marc Guiu ready to live a night that he will never forget. At 17 years old he came on and in just 23 seconds he turned the match upside down with a goal from a true center forward. He ran into space, raised his head and outwitted the rival goalkeeper to decide a match that was doomed to a goalless draw. It was the night in which Barça recovered its ‘unocerism’ and in which a new culé pearl was born, a certain Marc Guiu.
#Marc #Guiu #Barça #trouble