E. LEAGUE (1/8, IDA) | BARCELONA – GALATASARAY: Barça put on a final in Turkey three days before the Clásico

Puncture of a Barça that promised them very happy against Galatasaray and that took a (Turkish) bath of reality not being able to go from the tie to zero with which he is forced to play his pass to the quarterfinals of the Europa League with the obligation to win in Istanbul… three days before the Clásico. After four wins in a row, Barça got a cold and went back without scoring a goal since December. The problem is that it was against a team that, precisely, had not kept a clean sheet since December.

Barça went to the Camp Nou to start their tie against Galatasaray too confident in his possibilities and committing the sin of trusting more in the expectations created than in the culture of work that has led to conceive these expectations.

with another thought

Barcelona faced the game against the Turks thinking more about planning what has to come after (the game against Osasuna, achieving a good income to get to the Clásico well or who knows what) and ran into disappointment.

Certainly, there were reasons for optimism. Starting with the difference in the squad and ending with the galloping crisis that Galatasaray is experiencing in their league, where they are 32 points behind the leader. Perhaps for all these reasons, Xavi will plan the match with many rotations: Eric from central, Nico, Memphis and Adama. It was soon seen that the sin of underestimating Galatasaray could take its toll.

Domènec Torrent showed with his approach that he knows Barça inside out and that the rings do not fall off for modifying his ideal game system if he achieves his goal with it. First of all, he did. because he stifled Barça by giving up two of his basic principles as a coach: starting short from behind and high pressure.

Equipped in the center of the field, Galatasaray managed to turn the game into a ball for Barcelona from the start. There was a lack of rhythm, impossible interior corridors were sought and the game was a festival of lost balls, especially by Araújo, to whom the Turks left a free field so that he was in charge of initiating Barça’s moves. He never got along with Frenkie de Jong, who in the midfield position had no significance in the game. It may be that he, as he said in the previous one, thinks the opposite.

The only threats from Barça came from Memphis and Adama. One, the Dutchman’s was real, the other was pyrotechnic. Memphis was the only one that put Iñaki Peña to the test in the first 45 minutes with a free kick and a shot from the top of the area to which the goalkeeper on loan from Barça responded effectively. Adama, on the other hand, wasted over and over again the overflow of him to Van Aalholt with bad final decisions.

Galatasaray, bully

The Turks not only defended well, but also created danger. In fact, the clearest chance of the first half came from Aktürkoglu, but Eric miraculously managed to deflect a slipping ball.

The game was so thick that it needed a shock. In these cases, how the story has changed, the first one pointed out is always Dembélé.

Along with the Frenchman, who came on for Ferran, Xavi was forced to pull the veterans: Busquets and Piqué on stage for Nico and Araújo. The one of the rotations, for another day already if that.

Barça didn’t improve too much either, if anything Dembélé contributed dembelism, that way of playing that you don’t know how it will turn out. Galatasaray continued to defend with order, Peña took a header from Busquets and Alba missed a shot by centimeters. Xavi, already nervous, gave input to Aubameyang. All artillery to the field. The Turks, to the trenches.

Ten minutes from the end, and the only hope was Luuk de Jong, Ball shots to the area where Iñaki Peña, once again, imposed his law in an imperial manner. There will be a final in Istanbul before visiting the Bernabéu.