On Saturday in La Liga, FC Barcelona faced Cadiz. Here’s the result, what happened, and what we discovered from the tie.
Cadiz CF 2 – 1 FC Barcelona
There were a number of stars returning to Ronald Koeman’s first XI
His lineup read as such: Ter Stegen; Alba, Lenglet, Mingueza, Dest; De Jong, Busquets; Coutinho, Griezmann, Messi; Braithwaite.
And whereas this meant there was no Ousmane Dembele or Pedri, a number of stars that sat out or didn’t even travel for the midweek win over Ferencvaros within the Champions League made their approach back into the Dutchman’s major plans.
The worst possible start
Barca hadn’t begun that badly and had managed to get their passing game off the bottom at least. But then tragedy struck within the eighth minute when Oscar Mingueza nearly headed into his own net past Ter Stegen. The German managed to produce a fine save, however then Alvaro Giminez was there to transform the rebound. 1-Zero to the hosts.
Coutinho skied Barca’s best chance as much as the press
Approaching 1 / 4 of an hour, Lionel Messi played a lovely cross for Sergio Dest to knock across the face of the aim. Antoine Griezmann missed the sliding tap in, but so did Philippe Coutinho the empty net left behind, albeit from a tight angle.
Martin Braithwaite forced a save
Kind of clear on aim, the Dane made Jeremias Ledesma hold it out together with his toes and Catalans gave the impression to be discovering their vary.
Messi got here shut with a free-kick
On target on 25 minutes, the skipper made Ledesma come off his line and punch it on to Clement Lenglet’s head. Had he not, an equalizer would have certainly been delivered.
And also his first ‘Olympic Goal’
One instantly from a nook that’s. Ledesma tipped it over, and, after that, off went Barca down the tunnel nonetheless 1-Zero down. Dembele might be seen warming up even earlier than the half time whistle, the sensation that he might be seen swiftly at first of the second ‘45 echoed by Koeman’s scowl.
A double it sub it was from the manager
Supplanting Philippe Coutinho and Mingueza, Dembele and Pedri would try to inject some width and creativity from the offset of the restart.
Relentless attacks followed
The replacements were on the forefront of sustained strain, as Cadiz put 10 males behind the ball within the field every time their foes attempted to needle it through.
Then finally it came
Not the prettiest of targets, but Jordi Alba will take it. Nearing the hour mark, his cross was deflected previous Ledesma to degree the proceedings at 1-1.
Before the Blaugrana undid their hard work
Who is aware of what Alba was thinking with his heavy throw-in, but it beat Lenglet and left one on a plate for Alvaro Negredo to make it 2-1 when Ter Stegen tried to clear the ball straight into the striker. Back down the hill, Barca went.
A penalty shout was ignored
When Lenglet, 14 minutes from time, had his shirt tugged. Simply earlier than that, Messi lobbed Ledesma and hit the bar. It felt like the guests might still snatch a point or all three, but they have been slipping away from them.
One other double sub from Koeman followed
Miralem Pjanic and Francisco Trincao came on for Dest and Busquets, with 13 minutes plus stoppage time to make an affect.
They didn’t, and FC Barcelona succumbed to another defeat
This their fourth loss within the 2020/2021 La Liga season, ideas of the title ought to be promptly erased from Cules’ minds, in the event that they weren’t already. Diego Simeone’s troops produce other rivals up on the summit in fact, however from a Barca perspective, can anybody actually see Atletico Madrid dropping 12 factors and letting the 7th placed strugglers again within the race?
Now, qualifying for the Champions League and perhaps selecting up the Super Cup and/or Copa del Rey ought to be their main focus.
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