Barcelona failed as team number 19 in La Liga. Not even Yamal’s double saved
Grigory Telingater February 12, 2024, 01:35 Moscow time
The difference with Real Madrid is… It seems that we can no longer count.
An important fact for Barcelona fans: Ter Stegen, who missed three months due to injury, returned to the starting eleven. The goalkeeper was one of the team’s key players when it won the championship last season. And this time the match was quite fun, even for Ter Stegen.
It is true that it was the locals who opened the scoring. Lewandowski traditionally wasted several excellent chances, and then Cancelo allowed another player to finish. Yamal, 16, managed to run towards the far post and score into an empty goal. This is the Spanish winger’s second goal in La Liga.
But another young Barça footballer became the hero of a surprising episode in the first half. Kubarsi made an entrance with his leg raised and hit Uzuni’s knee with his spikes. The most paradoxical thing about this moment was that from a replay the feeling arose that it was a red foul, but from another angle, that there was nothing special to give the yellow for. The judge preferred the second option.
Lamin Yamal
Photo: Alex Caparrós/Getty Images
In the 41st minute, Lewandowski almost scored, but the defender miraculously erased it from the tape. The case when the Pole did everything right, he scored in the goal, but the ball basically did not go into the goal. In any case, it was impossible to start striker Vítor Roque, because he was disqualified for being sent off on the last day.
And then something went wrong. In the match against the 19th team in the league, Barcelona scored 1-2 instead of 1-0. Furthermore, Pelistri, whom Granada rented to Manchester United, proved his worth. First, the full-back gave an assist to Ricard Sánchez. Well, after the break, Pelistri scored himself, finishing off a cross to the far post. Uruguayan’s first goal in Europe.
Facundo Pellistri
Photo: Alex Caparrós/Getty Images
Then events developed at lightning speed. It turned out that three goals were scored in six minutes. Lewandowski tied the score: for the second consecutive round he was helped by Gundogan. And almost immediately Granada took advantage again. The goal turned out to be strange: the Barcelona goalkeeper, after Mikel’s shot, saved with one hand and with the other (after a rebound off the post) threw the ball into his own goal.
The complete broadcasts of the Spanish Primera matches are available on Okko.
Barcelona is amazing this season because they are the best club in La Liga based on difference in xG allowed/created (no, this is not a joke, but FBref stats). And at the same time, the team controls the course of the match almost worse than all the best clubs in Europe. And yet, Barcelona managed to recover. Yamal’s long-range shot helped: the Granada goalkeeper shot rather absurdly into the near corner. Although it seemed very likely that the goal had been disallowed for a foul, the VAR deemed it acceptable for Yamal to take the ball away.
The blaugranas had nothing more to do. Surprisingly, Xavi again could not cope with Granada, one of the two teams in Spain that did not submit to him (the other being Rayo Vallecano) even once.
This is what happened in the main match of this day of the Spanish Championship
After such a performance by Real Madrid, the league can be closed
