BARCELONA 4- ATHLETIC 0 | Pedri directs an arsenal

An unimaginable quartet just two months ago, when Dembélé was a plague for the Barcelona fans, there was no news of Aubameyang, Luuk was on his way to Cádiz and Memphis was injured, signed a key victory for Barça against Athletic Club (4-0) which he undid in the end. The Blaugrana team, which started the match sixth in the table, is now fourth, one point behind Betis, third, and with one game in hand. For the first time this season, Barça chained three wins in a row. The state of optimism is declared after chaining three games scoring four goals.

The intensity is not discussed at Athletic Club, nor that Marcelino gave his starting team a romp, because the Basques’ starting eleven went far beyond rotations. The Asturian coach changed pieces at close range in a team without the Williams, Muniain, Dani García, De Marcos or Iñigo Martínez, but who knew how to stand up from the start.

Xavi’s team, as expected, dominated the game from the first minute of the game, but the Basques made it very clear that they had not gone to Barcelona to hang out. There are people who consider that defending is something ignoble, but Athletic -and Marcelino’s teams in general- sublimate this phase of the game with the love that a craftsman puts into his pieces. Until they fall off.

So much so, that Barcelona, ​​who moved the ball well, interpreted the game and sought all possible resources, became desperate for not seeing a way to get their hands on Athleticwho was a rock, who also timidly threatened Ter Stegen with some way out on the counterattack.

Taking advantage of the fact that the toilets went out to attend to Raúl García, who bumped into Alves, Xavi improvised a dead time in which he began to touch up details of his team. Alves left the band to appear more in the middle and Dest had much more depth on the left.

The first goal of the game came from a play by the American, who when he seemed lost took a corner that was oil.

The corner kick was bounced by Alves, Piqué hit the crossbar and the rebound was matched with as much beauty as Aubameyang’s difficulty at the back of the net. Scoring goals is also a trade. And the Gabonese has a trade.

The 1-0 opened the sky for the Blaugrana, who went to rest calmer, but we must not forget that Athletic had a lot of gunpowder on the bench. Almost as much as Barça.

At the beginning of the second part, Iñigo Martínez and Sancet came on for Raúl and Yeray. But beyond the changes of men, the most significant thing was Athletic’s change of attitude, which began to make it difficult for Barça to get the ball out, as they continued to be unable to kill the game. Ferran continued to miss (a foul and a shot) and Xavi changed him for Dembélé, who was once again greeted with whistles, but was replaced after five minutes by applause with a great goal that gave oxygen to a Barça that was beginning to get nervous before the attacks of Sancet and Nico Williams.

From that goal, Barça recovered the moral command of the game and he began to like it to the point that Pedri gave the world a high-heeled pipe on Balenciaga, which has gotten rid of Messi, but who has now fallen from Tenerife. Pedri continued with his recital and Dembélé’s cross came from one of his plays, which allowed Luuk to score the third. The Frenchman, unleashed, also served the fourth for Memphis in stoppage time. The state of optimism is declared.