The matches in favor of inventory, those called between the wars for the favorites, are often summarized in a moment or in a play, or sometimes they are even explained based on both solutions, as happened in Barça-Oviedo. In five minutes, the Blaugrana put an end to a painful contest that seemed to have no end at the Camp Nou. A snort from Lamine on Carmo and a squeeze from Raphinha to Costas caused two individual errors by the center backs and ruined the meritorious collective defense of Almada’s team. Only Lamine did not end the contest and gave away a goal that alone was worth the start of a match that began with sun, continued with rain and ended with the universal deluge to the despair of the 44,763 Camp Nou fans.
3
Joan García, Pau Cubarsí, Eric García, João Cancelo (Alejandro Balde, min. 59), Gerard Martín (Jules Koundé, min. 45), Dani Olmo (Marc Bernal, min. 74), Frenkie de Jong, Raphinha (Fermín López, min. 59), Lamine Yamal (Roony Bardghji, min. 78), Marc Casadó and Robert Lewandowski
0
Aarón Escandell, David Costas, David Carmo, Lucas Ahijado (Nacho Vidal, min. 65), Javi López, Haissem Hassan (Josip Brekalo, min. 81), Ilyas Chaira, Kwasi Sibo, Alberto Reina (Nicolás Fonseca, min. 65), Santiago Colombatto (Santi Cazorla, min. 81) and Federico Viñas (Thiago Borbas, min. 81)
Goals
1-0 min. 51: Dani Olmo. 2-0 min. 56: Raphinha. 3-0 min. 72: Lamine Yamal
Referee Juan Martínez Munuera
yellow cards
Gerard Martín (min. 8), Escandell (min. 32), Costas (min. 42)
Many people began to leave the stadium on foot due to the water and hail and those who remained began to ask the referee to blow the final whistle early or to show mercy towards the players once they saw that the match had already been resolved and the result accepted for both Barcelona and Oviedo. The return to the Camp Nou, 43 days after the match against Osasuna, was as epic as it was abhorrent if it had not been for the goals, especially Lamine’s, which certified the recovery of the lead with one more point than Madrid. The game was very poor and resulted in the terrible orphanhood that Pedri’s absence represents in the same way that the score was no surprise if you take into account that Oviedo is the last one, the least scorer and that it has not won a game since September, when it defeated Valencia.
Although their proven competitiveness is already known, no one would have said that Oviedo was bottom due to the way they challenged Barcelona, whose priority was precisely to regain the lead of the tournament, which since Saturday night had been occupied by Madrid. Almada’s team pressed very high, blocked the ball’s exit line and placed individual marks in the midfield, a plan already well known, on the other hand, and which usually blocks Barça. The script of the match forced the Blaugranas to maximize their defensive concentration and sharpen their aim because the football was not very fluid, without rhythm and tricked by fouls, also highly conditioned by the absence of a single player to score the goal. timing game and he has no substitute like Pedri.
Oviedo’s Uruguayan football forces the rival to be very precise and fast in the circulation of the ball and the Barcelona fans lose passing lines and finesse without Pedri. At minute 45, Barça had not even shot on goal to even contrast the solvency of the goalkeeper who saves the most in the League. Almada’s team was very comfortable, hooked on the pitch and comfortable with the silence of the Camp Nou, without chants of any kind, not a reminder for Messi either. Not even Lamine could escape Barcelona’s frustration because the team was increasingly impatient and unhinged, so sterile in attack, despite forming with the trio of scorers from last season, and attentive in defense due to Hassan’s threatening transitions on the right.
Although Casado participated a lot, he did not mix well with De Jong, who was too out of place, because the replacement of Pedri is not only nominally impossible, but it also forces him to play the roles of the midfielders, who were very uncoordinated against Oviedo. Olmo’s game of between the lines and easy shooting did not work either. And Eric and Cancelo, the full-backs who replaced Koundé and Balde, were also not making progress to connect with Lamine, Raphinha and Lewandowski. The unbalanced footballers were sidelined and isolated, without calm or skill in the midfielders to give continuity to the game, the Blaugrana repeated in the losses, the Oviedo aid defense only conceded before reaching the break a shot by Raphinha rejected by Escandell.
Oviedo’s synchronization broke down at one point, as soon as the second half began, just when the Blaugrana gained energy, ambition and, above all, pressure from Lamine and Raphinha. Both put pressure on the Oviedo centre-backs when they tried to play the ball from their area and generated unappealable shots from Olmo and Raphinha himself. Nobody expected more from the match until Lamine hooked a bicycle kick to Olmo’s center to score one of his most beautiful and celebrated goals at the Camp Nou. The execution was as beautiful as the development of the play due to the way the player waited for the ball and adjusted his body to the astonishment of the defenders and the eternal Cazorla. In the absence of football without Pedri, the goals achieved through forgotten pressure redeemed Barça.
