Barcelona is champion of Spain! Xavi’s team started off wonderfully in the derby. Video
Anatoly Romanov May 15, 2023, 00:10 Moscow time
Espanyol did not hold half.
Barcelona is champion of Spain! The victory in the derby officially made Xavi’s team the owner of the gold. Madrid hands over the trophy to Catalonia.
A few days before the match with Espanyol, it became known that Barcelona, if they won, would not receive the championship trophy that night. Spanish media reported that the president of the soccer federation, Luis Rubiales, will personally present the award to the Catalans, most likely on May 20. A week later, the Barca garnet will play at the Camp Nou with Real Sociedad.
From the first minutes of the match, the special atmosphere of the derby was felt. Very hot, nervous. If Barça fought for their “golden” goal, Espanyol fights for theirs: survival in the Example. Kunde already in the debut of the match broke his rival’s nose: he was lucky that the referee Bengoechea decided to limit himself to a yellow card. Although it is unlikely that any referee would risk spoiling such a match with an early and non-obvious elimination.
Here is a detailed analysis of Barcelona today:
Barça Xavi is unique. But it cannot be compared with the great team of Guardiola
Espanyol, due to the 5-3-2 scheme, covered the central axis and half flanks to the maximum. Naturally, with such a tactic from the rival, the blue garnets opted to open the flanks, where they turned on Kunde himself on the right, or Rafinha and Balde on the left. Everything depended on the reconstruction, for example, Xavi’s team could create a triple behind, and Rafinha and Balda could give width. Rough ball transfers baffled the hosts’ defense. The first goal came from the band. Balde surpassed Gil, who did not interfere with either the signing or the rival, and Lewandowski got ahead of Olivan.
It was Barcelona’s first shot on goal. And the blue garnet scored the second goal in the second half, in the middle of the half. Now Xavi’s team climbed into the Espanyol penalty area from the right. Bucket outsmarted poor Khil again.
Everything became clear too soon! It’s even a bit embarrassing. Barcelona reveled in their dominance, possessing 72% of the ball and shooting 10 times before halftime. Four hit the mark. Already at 45 minutes he led with a great score, scoring the third goal on the counterattack. An interception, a quick delivery of the ball to Rafinha and a pass from the Brazilian to an empty goal for Lewandowski: this is how the Pole’s double was produced (the failed Montes from Dinamo Moscow escaped him). Espanyol only hit the target once, but ex-Barcelona Braithwaite’s goal was prevented by the magnificent ter Stegen. Another super save from the goalkeeper.
After the break, Espanyol tried to press high and in fact defended with a foursome behind. But it was the despair of the damned. In addition, already in the 55th minute Braithwaite had to be replaced, who received some type of injury. That blow from the Dane was his only touch in the guest penalty area. The substitution already took place when the score was 0:4. Barça scored a simple goal again -due to a pull from Kunde-. De Jong scored the ball, and the Frenchman left Puado fresh and avoided an offside position. Luis García’s team fell apart due to individual errors.
Meanwhile, the stadium was quickly emptying out, Espanyol fans began leaving the stands en masse half an hour before the end. Of course, they did not want to look at the shame of their team and the triumph of their main rival. Xavi, on the other hand, began to make substitutions calmly: he released Dembélé and Alba on the left flank of the defence. Bucket was sent to the right edge. It is curious that Araujo sat on the bench, although Kunde “hung” on the card. But after the readjustments in the composition of Barça, he suddenly began to fail in defense and allowed one-on-one starts. Consequently, Puado scored, and VAR helped to disallow the goal for non-existent offside.
Surprisingly, football opened up in the last minutes. But there was no point in the blue garnets “drying” the game, because their advantage was too great. However, in terms of shots on goal, Barcelona lost very well in the second half against Espanyol – 1:6! And in discount, he missed Joselu, who was chasing Lewandowski in the Examples scorer’s race.
If Xavi will criticize his players in the derby analysis for something, then for errors in defense in these 45 minutes. Meanwhile, the young coach will celebrate the championship, the first in this position at Barça.
