The true classic of women's football had all the ingredients to be so: goals, controversy and a great stadium. Barça prevailed (1-6) in a Metropolitan with more than 24,000 spectators, but had to recover from the scandalous refereeing performance of Zulema González, who invented a non-existent penalty in favor of Atlético and annulled a goal for Pina for not respect the law of advantage in a previous foul on Aitana Bonmatí.
He overcame all the adversities in the first half to go into half-time with a slight lead (1-2) thanks to goals from Crnogorcevic and Mapi León, and he was completely unleashed in a splendid second half in which Bronze, Paralluelo ( 2) and Engen completed a meritorious win just four days after playing against Bayern at the Camp Nou.
The game turned to face Barcelona as soon as it started. After four minutes, Ana Maria Crnogorcevic, who had entered the eleven at the last minute for Salma Paralluelo, made it 0-1 taking advantage of an extraordinary pass from Patri Guijarro. The Spaniard, a fundamental piece of this team, has five assists in the League this season.
Despite the early goal, Atlético did not give up, squeezing the Catalans as the ball came out and trying to seize possession against a Metropolitan devoted to their own. And when he did not have the ball, Óscar Fernández planted a line of five behind, to make it difficult for Barça to approach.
It didn't matter, because the leader of the F League would end up becoming master of the match, combining patiently while waiting to find the gaps through which to attack Lola Gallardo's goal. At quarter of an hour into the match, Geyse, with an electric change of pace, sent a measured cross to Pina, which the woman from Montcada could not connect well by very little. Second clear arrival of Barça and about to make the second. Rolfö also looked for Crnogorcevic, but the control was faulty and the danger was nothing.
And when the Barça goal seemed only a matter of time, the scandal arrived. Ajibade dropped in front of Patri Guijarro inside the area and the referee Zulema González pointed out a non-existent penalty that provoked the ire of the Barcelona squad, including a card for Sandra Paños for protesting the inexplicable action.
Leicy Santos transformed the maximum penalty putting the tie on the scoreboard and the controversy would not end here. Not content with signaling a scandalous penalty, Zulema González annulled a goal by Claudia Pina ten minutes later for a previous foul on Aitana Bonmatí, not respecting a clear law of advantage for the Barça team, who could not believe this new blunder by the collegiate Fortunately for Barça, Mapi León, in a work of divine justice, placed the ball over the spot of the free kick and pierced Gallardo's goal with a real great goal that put the Catalans ahead again.
Giráldez's men would not see their advantage on the scoreboard in jeopardy again against Atlético who, five minutes before the break, saw how the top scorer Ludmila had to leave the field of play due to knee problems after a game with Bronze in the that fell bad
If the top scorer in the F League, the mattress team lost much of its offensive potential and found a Barcelona that, after going through the locker room, came out very plugged in and determined to close the game. After a great action by Rolfö, who crossed a ball that Crnogorcevic just missed, Lucy Bronze made her debut as a goalscorer in the Barcelona jersey. The English full-back, diving straight after a corner, sent a powerful header into the back of the net to make it 3-1.
The second part was a Barca monopoly. The mattress set was unable to stand up and as the minutes passed and fatigue lurked, the rival became more comfortable. In the final stretch, with the entry of Salma Paralluelo, who had fallen out of the eleven although he could have ended up playing the last twenty minutes, Barça enjoyed their best minutes on the offensive level. Along with Mariona Caldentey, also recently admitted, Paralluelo joined the list of scorers with two goals, the first after a great play by the Balearic Islands player on the left wing; and the second taking advantage of a rebound from Lola Gallardo after Mariona herself missed a penalty caused by some clear hands from Sheila García in minute 75.
The load of minutes of a Barça that had played on Wednesday at the Camp Nou against Bayern was not noticed and the second part of the Catalan team was to frame, with Ingrid Engen rounding off the win, which could have been greater, in minute 80 with the 1 to 6 definitive.
