Yesterday night Barcelona played against tough opponent Athletic Bilbao team at Camp Nou and the Catalans did win it by a narrow 1-0 margin, thanks to the super substitutions in the form of Riqui Puig, Ansu Fati and Ivan Rakitic. Honestly speaking, Barcelona looked totally out of form throughout the first 55 minutes of the game, until the good substitutions by Quique Setién arrived.
FC Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Lenglet, Alba; Vidal, Busquets (Rakitic 64’), Arthur (Puig 55’); Messi, Suárez (Braithwaite 85’), Griezmann (Ansu Fati 64’)
Athletic Bilbao: Simón; De Marcos, Núñez, Yeray, Balenziaga; López (García 57’), Vesga; Lekue (Capa 69’), Sancet (R. García 78’), Córdoba (Muniain 57’); Williams (Villalibre 69’)
Obviously playing against Athletic Bilbao won’t be an easy job because they are good at their defense and even though a lot of their first team players did not start the game, the team played really well at the Camp Nou. Inaki Williams posed a threat as well with his runs along with some danger from the wings as well.
Barcelona kept the clean sheet thanks to the good performance by Pique, Lenglet, Semedo and of course, Jordi Alba. The key player who not only took the role of a defensive guardian but also winning the ball for the team seemed to be Sergio Busquets, who even made an important challenge in the penalty box to stop a sure goal. Ter Stegan as always with his calm mind played really well and showed again why he wants a big weekly wage from the club.
One of the main reason for the failure for scoring goals in the first half was the lack of finishing third by Luis Saurez, which was seen in the last game as well. Also, the MSG trio – Messi Saurez Greizmann trio were not clicking that much as it used to be but what we really saw was an incomplete Saurez who missed a lot of chances. On the other hand, Griezmann played better with making runs, showing some clever mind to link up with Saurez and Messi.
But, the problem being, Saurez and Messi never give the chance to Griezmann to finish, they only look to each other. Griezmann and Suarez did have some great opportunities but the trio still never trusts Griezmann who lacks creativity but with his fitness and runs plays throughout the pitch to help his team.
Arthur also was lacking the creativity in the midfield, the passes, the through balls, he was not able to deliver the same, which actually bored every Barca fan until thee substitutes arrived.
The Super Substitutes
Barcelona’s creativity was again revived by the youngsters Riqui Puig and Ansu Fati. Puig as like his other game against Leganes played really well, he was making runs, tackling players, making key passes and doing his defensive duties with his small stature. After that, the whole team started to make more opportunities and Barca were getting improved.
Then cam Ansu and Rakitic with full of energy, and as always Fati in the wings played like a pro, taking on defenders and making the runs from the flanks. Rakitic, on the other hand, replaced a tired Busquets and in the 71st minute scoring a crucial goal in the penalty box by a cheeky pass from Messi.
After the goal, Barcelona totally transformed and we saw that energy back again with a lot of chances but no proper finishing from Fati or Saurez and even Messi could not find the net on the eve of his 33rd birthday. Also we saw an intelligent goalkeeping by Unai Simón who saved multiple shots from Vidal, Saurez, Griezmann and Messi.
However, Fati was on the verge of scoring his second goal but it struck the post after the deflection from the shot taken by Vidal, who played the total 90 minutes after a long time. That one goal made the difference as Barca won the game and kept the clean sheet along with that, Barcelona are still in the LaLiga title race, now all eyes on Real Madrid’s next match against Mallorca today.
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