BarcelonaBarça’s heroic victory against Osasuna. Xavi Hernández’s men added the three points and guaranteed themselves the leadership of the League during the World Cup stop after winning 1-2 despite having played for more than an hour with one player less due to the expulsion of Lewandowski. Pedri and Raphinha recovered Unai García’s initial goal. Next, some hot notes.
Com Amunike a Las Gaunas. He had been on the pitch for a miscalculated minute and, after several unfortunate performances, Raphinha made up for it with the first decisive goal he scores in a Barça shirt. If in Valencia he came on from the bench and assisted Lewandowski for an agonizing goal, in Pamplona he was the one responsible for silencing the local stands with a Vaseline header after an immense pass from De Jong. The move was a tribute to Amunike, who scored a very similar goal in Las Gaunas in 1997. Let’s hope the comparison doesn’t stop here.
A repeat referee. Lewandowski’s sending off for a double yellow was fairer, but much more so, than the cathedral foul on Marcos Alonso in the 1-0 play. Having said that, it is impossible to dissociate the controversies from the referee who caused them. Especially because Gil Manzano is a repeat offender when it comes to sending off Barça’s best players. He was the only one to send Messi out in his entire career, and he also sent Luis Suárez and Neymar to the shower. The Extremadura player is a very easy card. Lewy didn’t know that and now, at the very least, he will miss the New Year’s derby against Espanyol. Welcome to the circus, Robert.
The context does not hold everything. Xavi sought victory in Pamplona with his team. In other words, with Dembélé (and not Raphinha) open on the right, without Piqué (also sent off at half-time) in the center and with Busquets in the engine room. We will focus mainly on the worrying performance of the captain, overcome in several balls by Osasuna’s intensity and portrayed in other actions that required more reflexes than he had. Busi is getting big for us and duels like those at Sadar do nothing more than repeat it to us. Its reasonable decay depends not only on the context that surrounds it.
The difficult day-to-day management. Jordi Alba’s fourth consecutive title before the World Cup. Quite the opposite to Memphis, who have brazenly booked themselves for the Qatar date, alleging inconvenience, and secured permission to return to the Netherlands early. Very professional, yes sir. God forbid the small fires that Xavi has had to manage in this first part of the course. Also in relation to Alba, to whom he has had to grant the minutes he was denied a few weeks ago, which has moved Balde to the right back. Of course, the l’Hospitalet winger keeps his offensive talent intact.
