What started out badly did not end well for Barcelona in Granada, who ended up rescuing a point in the 86th minute but saw their comeback annulled. The goal received after 18 seconds by Ter Stegen was as historic as the one scored by 16-year-old Lamine Yamal on the stroke of half-time, which put the Blaugrana back into the game. Sergi Roberto saved the furniture on a night in which Barça rose from the canvas and had to resort to epic again because of a devil like Bryan Zaragoza who embittered their defense. Xavi's men, after João Félix's 2-3 score was annulled, see Madrid further ahead after another Paco López team surprised them again.
The games are played on the tactical board, the lineups are surprising and, above all, they are decided on the field. Barcelona was still getting on the pitch when the scoreboard had already gone up to 1-0. In just 18 seconds, Granada took the colors of the Blaugrana, who had taken the center. In the blink of an eye, Barça lost the ball and the locals were celebrating. Bryan Zaragoza, an electric mouse, put on his boots, Gavi made a mistake, Boyé threw his teammate at speed and little Bryan crossed the ball to Ter Stegen.
The dream start for the penultimate team in the League, who hit first. Barça went out onto the field having to come back. Baldé, João Félix and Cancelo applauded and raised their arms to encourage their teammates, trying to lift their spirits. But the script of the match changed little, because Barcelona, despite the casualties, had the plan to attack and attack. Now he was doing it to tie instead of to get ahead. With a Gavi who tried to make himself forgiven with great pride and with João Félix as the end of almost every play. Without Lewandowski, it was the Portuguese who assumed responsibility while Ferran Torres could not find a way to say he was present.
If Barça felt pressure for the result, it was even worse when in another very fast counterattack they were petrified. Gumbau found Bryan Zaragoza, who broke the Barcelona defense until he scored a brilliant goal.
Two of the players who had been benchmarks, if not the most reliable, at the start of the season for the Blaugrana were evident in Granada's two goals. In the first Gavi, who has become a purer interior, lost the ball in a turn in which he relied, perhaps because it was the first ball he touched, and Bryan Zaragoza made him pay dearly. In the second, the small forward cut Koundé twice in the area, first inwards, then outwards, to gain space in front of the French central defender, impregnable in Porto and slow in the waist before the skill of the young man from Granada, who later still ended like the angels.
Bad business when two of your best pieces fail and the opponent is 2-0 before half an hour. But there was something worse. Because injuries continue to make life impossible for Xavi's Barça, who showed up at the Nuevo Los Cármenes with four casualties (Pedri, De Jong, Raphinha and Lewandowski) and in the first half lost Koundé. Gavi fell on his left knee and he had to ask for a change.
The match was set to go to half-time 2-0 to the ecstasy of the Nasrid fans because Barça was stunned but Lamine Yamal's goal opened a new panorama for Barça while placing him in the book of the history of the League. At 16 years and 87 days old he became the youngest scorer in the championship following a move by João Félix. The Portuguese stood in the area, dribbled past the goalkeeper but the ball escaped and was left without an owner. There was the young winger who only had to push into the net to close the gap.
In the second half, Barcelona tightened the screws, setting a comeback pace. Curiously, after the muscular problems of Lamine Yamal, who was substituted, the Blaugrana besieged their rival's area even more. They proved it by hanging a free kick that Ferran Torres finished off too timidly. Also with shots from the front by Gündogan and Gavi. And even Araújo touched the post with movements of nine.
So much was the pitcher to the fountain and so tight was Granada that the tie came as a reward for the visitor's insistence. A cross from Balde from the left, taking advantage of the fact that Callejón and Vallejo were on the ground, was finished off by Sergi Roberto. The Barça players wanted to serve quickly while the Granada players asked to review possible fouls.
The score of 2-2 went up to the scoreboard and was definitive but it could not have been. Bryan Zaragoza, in another loss in the creation, could have given Granada the victory but hit the post while João Félix did score, with a header, at the far post, but the referee annulled it due to Ferran's positional offside. Towers in the center of Cancelo. It was the final surprise.
Grenada: Andre Ferreira, Ricard Sanchez (Vallejo 84), Rubio, Ignasi Miquel, Neva, Villar (Petrovic 58), Gumbau, Bryan Zaragoza, Alvaro Fernandez (Torrent 58), Uzuni (Gates 58) and Lucas Boyye (Alley 74).
Coach: Paco López
Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Cancelo, Koundé (Araújo 44), Christensen, Balde, Gündogan, Fermín (Sergi Roberto 61), Gavi, Lamine Yamal (Oriol Romeu 77), João Félix y Ferran Torres
Coach: Xavi Hernández
Stadium: Nuevo Los Cármenes (20,354 spectators)
Referee: Soto Grado (Rioja school).
Cards: Yellow for Bryan Zaragoza, Rubio, Neva, Cancelo.
Goles: 1-0 Bryan Zaragoza (1), 2-0 Bryan Zaragoza (28), 2-1 Lamine Yamal (45 1), 2-2 Sergi Roberto (86).
