The Barca could not solve the classification for the knockout stages of the Champions League. He deserved it, he crashed a ball into the wood and had options, but he stayed at the gates in his last arreón. He played a very good first half, with opportunities, but again he missed a goal and then his rival speculated with the scoreboard, thinking that a tie benefits them in view of a last day with a visit from Barça to Munich while they receive a Dinamo Kiev that is already out of Europe. They are seen in the round of 16, they even lost time, but Barça is growing little by little and, although their goal escaped them, they will not go to Germany to play a friendly and they continue to depend on themselves: winning at the Allianz will be in eighths. If something has become clear, it is that winning at Bayern is not impossible. Difficult, a lot. Because impossible?
Barça had its options and until the end he squeezed in search of a triumph that would leave everything already solved. First part of remarkable height of the Catalans, with lack of definition, and A second in which Benfica little by little equalized the contest, not so much because of an incontestable superiority as because of a growing imprecision due to fatigue. Mental and physical. The Barça team once again showed interesting things at the start, had very good minutes, lacked continuity and was resurrected again in the final stretch by the hand of Dembélé, who played last half an hour.
The lack of extremes was solved by Xavi Hernández leaving the entire left wing for Jordi Alba. Gavi, the far left theoretician, went inside in attack and was located as interior. A system not very different from Koeman’s last season. In defence, advanced position de Alba forced a defense effort of three against three, which they resolved with great concentration and with the power in the correction of a colossal Araujo, in a right-back position. And on the right, the bet was Demir, who came out wanting to take advantage of this opportunity after weeks of ostracism.
Although it is true that lucidity was lacking In the definition, the approach paid off in a very brilliant first half hour for Barça. And also, with protagonism of the two wings: Demir was the first time in a cross shot that went to a corner and a very clear one from Alba, receiving a pass into space from Nico in a rapid transition from Barça. He rejected the goal.
The best Barça
Between both actions, a far shot from Memphis and a sprint of the Dutchman of forty meters even though he was offside, in addition to a shot by Araujo in a generated transition by himself, they illustrated a Barça electric start, with rhythm and good circulation. The pressure on Benfica’s exit attempts gave Barça lots of oxygen, very valuable oxygen. Fierce pressure from Gavi, Nico and Busquets, above all, which generated the chances above Demir and Memphis. Another transition de Araujo after recovering himself went out.
Benfica endured that downpour as best they could. A foul in an error by Lenglet generated the action that woke them up: a rehearsed launch towards Yaremchuk, who finished badly despite being alone in the area. He had already missed a shot after Ter Stegen’s loss at the start at the start and the German goalkeeper kicked him out with a header from the small area. Almost immediately, Otamendi finished off a goal a ball rejected in the area that, however, had left the field in the launch of a corner kick.
The disallowed goal cooled the Portuguese reaction and as an epilogue of a very well worked first half by Barça Demir sent a ball to the crosshead of the post with the left from the right side. In the second half, Benfica, as if it were fully aware of Barça’s downs, advanced lines and he went to look for the Barça team, which however no longer had the clarity of ideas or the spark of the beginning, with Demir and Memphis melting little by little. And that’s where Dembélé emerged.
Yes in the defense of Barça Araujo was a titan, in Benfica’s the colossus was Otamendi, who took a shot from Memphis almost sung after the Dutchman, after a quick run With a pass to Gavi’s space, cut yourself to Vertonghen. There were also two revulsives, one per side: at BenficaDarwin, who in his first action already forced Piqué to gasp in a transition; for Barça, Dembélé, who accelerated Barça, gave Camp Nou vitamins and as soon as he left he crossed a ball that De Jong headed, forcing the goal to shine again.
The Dembélé effect returned to scoring the Blaugrana game. A center of his was cleared for a corner by Otamendi when I was looking for an auction. Shortly after, Araujo’s goal that made the Camp Nou explode, to complete a great performance … but offside. Choffff! And in addition, he was injured in the auction. Not even so did Barça give up and went for everything in the discount. Taking risks, yes.
With Benfica losing time, Dembélé squeezing and Otamendi shrinking balls, Piqué had a shot that went out for very little. And Seferovic, in a counter, forgave incredibly in a run-off final.
DATASHEET
FC Barcelona: Ter Stegen (3); Araujo (4) (Eric Garcia (2), 86 ‘), Piqué (3), Lenglet (2) (Dest (2), 86’), Jordi Alba (3); Nico (3), Sergio Busquets (3), De Jong (3); Demir (2) (Dembélé (3), 66 ‘), Memphis (2), Gavi (3)
Benfica: Vlachodimos (3); Gilberto (2), André Almeida (2), Otamendi (4), Vertonghen (2), Grimaldo (3) (Seferovic (1), 81 ‘); Weigl (2), Joao Mario (2) (Taarabt (2), 59 ‘); Rafa Silva (1) (Valentino (1), 70 ‘) Yaremchuk (1) (Darwin (2), 59’), Everton (2) (Pizzi (2), 70 ‘)
Goals: There was no
Referee: Sergei Karasev (Russia). . Cards to Grimaldo (35 ‘), Piqué (49’), Joao Mario (49 ‘), Vlachodimos (90’ + 2)
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