Rakitic relieves Barcelona

• Direct, narration and statistics

Barcelona's great enemy is Barcelona. Fight against your demons and against your frustration, perhaps the worst rivals when there is, not only a League at stake, but an era. Ivan Rakitic , one of those players despised by his club, and thanks to a messy move by Messi , relieved a desperate team with his goal. I still live in the title fight. It is not little in times of anguish.

The apparently trivial episodes tend to be the closest to reality. It was a minute before the game reached the break. It had been three-quarters of an hour that Barcelona footballers attacked with the same grace as someone who feeds pigeons. So Messi, tired of having to look for the ball in his own field, tired of being forced to dribble six opponents in each attack, tired of SemedoI unchecked him from behind and inside, he hit a ball. To nothing. Because he himself knew that that kick would never have the goal as a destination. It was the claw of despair at nothing. "I am usually frustrated when, because I don't have models, I limit my best abilities," Vicent van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo. Messi must already know that feeling.

Because, once again, there was no way to figure out not only what Barcelona was playing, but what it intended to play. Not so long ago it was easy to admire Setien's government work . Not only because it said to prioritize aesthetics over the result, a doctrine that few dare to promote in an industry that condemns failure, but because it came with the promise of not changing. Of being the same technician who would bet on the joviality of the quarry, who would not be intimidated by the hierarchies, and who would leave simple survival aside to continue paying tribute to Cruyff . Just as he did that afternoon in which he amazed the Camp Nou with his Betis. The story was beautiful. But perhaps unsustainable already in a club whose main problem is not the coach, but those who thought that with Messi it would be enough to disguise years of arrogance and incompetence.

Yes, it is up to Setién to assert himself against his footballers. We only had to take a look at the masked substitutes for Barcelona. Repanching in their seats, not pretending that what was happening around them did not give a damn. The football of the bourgeoisie has these things. Either you walk the red carpet or you go to sleep.

The verve of youth

Setién did suffer on the bench. As much as his assistant, Eder Sarabia , who covered his face before the impossibility that his footballers could even tickle an Athletic team without six of its starters. Garitano , who must have thought that his fight was not that one and who never gave the impression of pretending to revolt, left Muniain, Raúl García, Dani García, Iñigo Martínez and Capa on the starting bench. Yuri Berchiche was sanctioned.

Barcelona's tactical resources were so primitive that the only solution was the frontal attack through Messi. Without anyone taking into account that Athletic was able to pile up such a mass of men in the throat that circulating the ball around it bordered on utopia. Even so, Luis Suárez , without aim, without speed, was enabled up to three times in the first quarter of an hour. The Uruguayan erred in all three. Athletic, on the other hand, had more than enough that their players did not lose their marks. Garitano even sensed a certain danger in a couple of set pieces actions, one of them cleared by Ter Stegen when the ball was already waiting for a goalkeeper to score.

Setien, one more day, was forced to correct himself as he went. Blessed are the young. Arthur , whom Barcelona intends to transfer to alleviate the hole in his accounts, had little impact on the game on his return to ownership. So it was not difficult for the coach to return him to the bench to give the alternative to Riqui Puig , who was reluctant. Griezmann , meanwhile, walked to the locker room after 65 minutes in which there was nothing but routine. No one saw his unchecking and he did not rebel against indifference. Ansu Fati had already caused more danger in a flash than the French. He even finished off the stick at sunset.

Rakitic , substitute for Busquets, hunted the redemptive goal. And Barcelona breathed. It's just about surviving.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

• sports
• First division
• soccer

LaLiga Santander 2019 - 2020Simeone's digital staging: "Now five minutes will have more value"

LaLiga Santander 2019 - 2020The first 'injury' of Felipe and Carrasco's revalidation

Atlético de MadridMarcos Llorente: "You should not ask for forgiveness for your past, but give everything and earn your love"

See links of interest

• Last minute
• Spanish translator
• Programming
• 2020 calendar
• Horoscope today
• League classification
• Santander League Calendar
• Movies today
• Themes

• RETAbet Bilbao Basket - Barça
• Levante - Atlético de Madrid, live
• Real Valladolid - Getafe
• Elche - Deportivo de La Coruña
• Barcelona - Athletic Club, live