Narration and statistics This is how we live the game
Group E Ranking
It was exciting to see Dembélé run like crazy when the game was already dying. He ran the extreme without noticing the fragility of his muscles, aware that Barcelona was falling off the European trapeze. Dembélé broke, twisted his ankles and looked up to see if there would be someone who could finish off his frantic dance. And what followed was emptiness. Xavi Hernández has changed many things in this Barcelona. But he can do nothing in the absence of a goal. Araujo was only right when the night was already fainting, but he did it offside. The draw against Benfica, which even had the sentence in Seferovic's wayward boots, condemns Barça to play qualifying in Munich against Bayern, already in the second round as group leader. At least, they will have to match the result of Lisbon against Dinamo in Da Luz.
Coaches play a key role in teams. Of course, they are not mere aligners who choose footballers to execute the shift scheme. They reactivate emotions, change routines when they are harmful and, above all, they take responsibility for empowering the players. And this Barcelona, which in Lisbon was beaten (3-0) and got used to walking through the fields of the continent exhibiting its hopelessness, is now on another path. Nor does he smile. But he invites his fans not to look away. It's already something.
With Al-Sadd, Xavi got used to drawing squares from a 3-4-3 with open ends. For now, the coach does not have specialists from the street - this time it was the delicate Demir's turn to fulfill that role - but this time he believed it appropriate to imitate the same drawing in the most committed game of his short career on the benches.
The solution had to start with an individual pressure in the open field. It was impossible to bear with the passing of the night. And also for entrusting the defense to Araujo, the best corrector the club has had since the days of Puyol. It would be the Uruguayan who formed in the line of three with Piqué and the always suspicious Lenglet. The news did not end there. Although Nico, prodigious while the twins responded, went inside leaving Demir the job of defending the Grimaldo side, Jordi Alba was responsible for taking care of the entire shore. So Gavi could take advantage of his devilish rhythm in lane ten.
But the usual was missing.
The goal.
Barcelona did not reach it in the first act, which ended with a thread from Demir to the crossbar.
The 18-year-old Austrian had already tried at dawn, when excellent goalkeeper Odisseas Vlachodimos stretched out his fingers to deny him glory.
The Benfica goalkeeper also managed to save a clear chance after Alba's shot.
The continuous fuss of the old wolf Jorge Jesus required extreme caution.
The Portuguese coach asked for towel after towel to dry off.
And he yelled at his players to go forward once and for all.
And the Barcelona players, as happened in the derby, their legs began to weaken.
To the beat that distrust appeared.
And fear.
After half an hour, Benfica gasped twice in a row. Both occasions sprouted after a corner kick. The first was finished by Yaremchuk. Ter Stegen resisted in his place and was able to get the ball out with his knee. The goalkeeper no longer sniffed Otamendi's hammer blow. The Argentine spent a minute celebrating the goal. Without noticing that the assistant had raised the flag when he noticed that in the previous corner kick the ball, in its parabolic spin, had gone out of the field.
Two decisions awakened Barça.
Dembélé came out like a miura, ready for wild dribbling and crosses like the one he gave De Jong.
The Dutchman could do nothing against Odisseas.
And Jorge Jesus, although he rescued the devil Darwin Núñez, disoriented the team by sitting Joao Mario.
The Camp Nou cried Araujo's disallowed goal to later take the rosary before Seferovic's final error.
What difference does it make.
The frustration is unbearable at the Camp Nou.
Without a goal, nothing is worth it.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
sports
Champions League
FC Barcelona
Xavi Hernandez
Champions Barcelona faces a vacuum in Europe: 20.2 million euros at stake
LaLiga SantanderPortazo of Al-Sadd to Barcelona: "Xavi has two years of contract"
LaLigaSergi Barjuan: from strike to coach Barcelona in four months
See links of interest
La Palma volcano
Last News
Translator
What
Holidays 2021
2022 business calendar
Home THE WORLD TODAY
Master investigative journalism
Dynamo Kyiv - FC Bayern München
Villarreal - Manchester United
Barcelona - Benfica
Chelsea - Juventus
Lille - FC Red Bull Salzburg