BarcelonaMore than one Madrid fan arrived at the Santiago Bernabéu to mock Barça, without expecting that they would have to leave with their tails between their legs. Just when it seemed most short of energy and football, Barça prevailed in the first leg of the Cup semi-finals and took a giant step towards the final in Seville (0-1). A balmy triumph, a victory to ward off ghosts, but to leave debates about style open. Nothing new, in Barcelona.
It’s not going through a good moment of play, Barça. The legs are heavy and the ball does not move quickly. It was time to survive and sacrifice ideals, to be pragmatic. Perhaps too much, in fact, as Xavi seemed to give up on what he saw, angry at a team that didn’t even make three passes in a row. In an ugly match, Barça took a precious victory, as if it were a diamond found in the middle of the mud. A triumph with the signature of Araujo, who turned Vinícius into a toy with which he did what he wanted. And with the leading role of Kessie, an unexpected hero who was one step away from scoring two goals. He first created Militao’s own goal play. Ansu then inadvertently avoided it. They were the only two shots on goal for Barça.
After a week to forget, Barça arrived at the Santiago Bernabéu as if they were prisoners ready to be tried by the Tribunal of the Holy Inquisition. A prisoner destined to be burned alive tied to a pole in the middle of Chamartín. Real Madrid fans, remembering every second of the famous Negreria case, smelled blood. I wanted blood. And it ended with a nosebleed. In front of him was a tired Barça with casualties, and he couldn’t hurt them. Ter Stegen, in fact, didn’t make any great saves either. The defense did his job.
No, it wasn’t a great match. In fact, it was an ugly game, with little football, many mistakes and little magic. No, Barça did not win the way Xavi likes it, dominating the game, imposing his speech and controlling all the secrets of the game. Not even close. It was the triumph of resistance, of knowing how to suffer. A little Barça, analyzing the game. A very Barça Barça, if you look at the character of the players, who left their skins there to celebrate a goal as ugly as it was valuable. It had to be like this, in a gray game. A Madrid turnover, a run from Kessie and plenty of rebounds before Militao scored an own goal. The only goal in a lackluster game had to be an own goal. Meaningful.
Without the light of the always longed for Pedri, Lewandowski and Dembélé, Xavi knew that it was necessary to provoke a cut of digestion in a grown Madrid, and manage to reach the second leg alive. Mission accomplished, in this case. Barça did not have the ball or control. Ferran and Raphinha, in attack, chased shadows. With Gavi too nervous, only De Jong seemed to know what to do with the ball in a team that seemed more focused on stopping Madrid’s virtues than enhancing their own. Xavi, as is usually the case against the Whites, moved Araujo from the center of the defense to the wing, so that he was responsible for stopping Vinícius. And, again, the Uruguayan ate the Brazilian’s morale, eating his morale. Vini, who has himself as his main enemy, started losing his papers by fighting with everyone, buying enough lottery numbers to get kicked out. He was pardoned. Vini shouts, insults, protests, defies authority, exaggerates and makes mistakes. He did everything, except win a duel against an Araujo who became the great bulwark of Barça. If he had to defend, he had to be the leader.
Survive and get closer to the final
Without Christensen, still without rhythm, it would be Araujo who would hold the Barcelona flag, well accompanied by Kounde and Marcos Alonso. They had to go to extra time in a game in which both the first and second halves started with a hurricane of whitewash. Barça knew how to suffer, knew how to defend. He was able to understand that just a week after the events at Old Trafford, it was necessary to get a good result not only to take a giant step towards the Cup final. Leaving the Bernabéu proud was also the best way to show that Almeria was a mistake and the League will end up in the hands of Barça.
Real Madrid, aware that the planned script was not being fulfilled, began to lose its roles. And it would be Barça that would come closest to scoring, in a good play by Ferran that ended with a shot by Kessie that already seemed to be inside the area, when Ansu, who had just entered, unintentionally deflected it . The fact that Kessie was the main offensive argument for Barcelona is still a metaphor for the match. It’s not the Ivorian’s fault, he did the job. It’s a matter of a Barça that showed that it knows how to defend properly in demanding scenarios, even if in doing so it had to step on the booklet with the 10 commandments of Cruyffism. Beauty gave way to results. It was the ideal day to be more pragmatic, as the game approached.
- Real Madrid: Courtois, Nacho (Rodrygo, 67′), Rudiger, Militao, Carvajal, Modric (Alvaro Rodriguez, 83′), Kroos (Tchouameni, 74′), Camavinga, Valverde, Vini Junior and Benzema.
- FC Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Araujo, Marcos Alonso, Kound, Balde, Sergio Busquets, Frenkie de Jong, Kessie (Sergi Roberto, 86th), Gavi, Ferran Torres and Raphinha (Ansu, Fati, 69th).
- Goals: 0-1 Militao own goal (26′).
- Referee: José Luis Munuera Montero (Andalusian)
- Yellow cards: Vini Junior (24′), Raphinha (45′), Gavi (51′), Nacho (54′), Kessie (66′), Valverde (73′) and Xavi Hernández (91′).
- Red cards: None
- Stadium: Santiago Bernabéu