Barça's very complete game, a happy statement because it had been out of use for too long and because the rival's organization prevents the fear of a possible exaggeration. If Xavi's team wants to engage their people, not so much those who are delivered from home as those who did not go up to Montjuïc, they must not separate a millimeter from what he taught last night at the Olympic Determination from the first second and defined action map.
The Blaugrana lines played without the glue that united them for too many games and, in the end, the good ones were found to bring them together. The ball was touched, almost always and in that order, by De Jong at the beginning of the play, by Gündogan in the continuity and, finally, by Pedri, to decide if it was going to end somewhere or if it had to start again with patience It was a pleasure to see them pass the ball to each other, interrupt each other, find gaps, protect it or speed up the attack to do damage. How much satisfaction
Barça added two victories to the three games that were faced as a painful triad. The decent second half against Porto had a second chapter last night that lends credibility to a project that was getting disoriented. Barça imposed their football in 60 minutes of constancy in the game and made their parish vibrate because it saw infantry when Atlético started to let go, more dangerous than a bank of piranhas. Here the spirit and skill of the defense must be highlighted, much more competent with Koundé as a winger and Araújo commanding with the bracelet tied to his arm than the other way around. And, of course, Iñaki Peña, savior of the team with an extraordinary performance that vindicates him.
With the defense and the center of the field highlighted, the attack again went out of tune, not like other days due to a lack of mobility, but due to the absence of success. The striker wasted dynamism, with Raphinha hyperactive and Lewandowski wanting to be part of the group despite continuing to miss goals. João Félix's Barça were lucky, who arrived at the match angry, a characteristic that does not suit him, but which, against Atlético, the club he belongs to, but which he does not feel it worked as fuel.
John Felix, the angry lyricist
João Félix took a big risk and claimed the match for himself. The days before he entered the dialectical confrontation proposed to him by his ex-teammates and, already on the grass, he lived up to the audacity. More artistic than sacrificial, the Portuguese went to the wrong destination with Atlético de Simeone, a fakir coach who enjoys suffering and punches those who do not accompany him. The disagreement between the Argentine and João Félix was predictable. The footballer usually goes into melancholy trances if he doesn't feel love around him, like a capricious poet. At Barça he says he has found a favorable habitat, but let's not exaggerate or advance long-term idylls. This same season he started inspired and was diluted until facing his old team stirred his bowels. The boy celebrated the goal by climbing a fence while heading with outstretched arms to the area where the mattress fans were. From then on, he played with his legs. Quick thoughts of little merit to end: the Metropolitano will hate him for life. Either he continues at Barça or a team is sought in Nepal.
