“The situation is critical.” St. Pölten looked with fear into the eyes of the almighty Barça. The current champion of the Champions League – and of everything (League, Cup and Super Cup) – came his way at the worst moment, with a large number of casualties and a complicated scenario, as his coach Celia Brancao warned. So many that only four players remained on their bench, two of them goalkeepers. A surreal scenario that increased the Blaugranas’ favoritism.
Pere rotated, with six changes compared to the match against Atlético, and once again showed the variety of goals in his dressing room. Five different players scored the six goals that marked a new victory for their team. Five of them arrived in a first half of Barça superiority and a great rush that lasted less than fifteen minutes.
Ewa Pajor was in charge of opening the can after the first half hour of the game. Great individual action by Ona Batlle on the left, center and shot by the Pole to continue collecting goals as a Barça player. Another of last summer’s signings joined her: Kika Nazaret.
From left to right. The Portuguese sent a rejected ball into the net after a great play on the right side. With the second, Barça stepped on the accelerator like someone who wants to go to half-time with their homework done. Aitana Bonmatí did not want to miss her appointment with the goal and, with a left foot, she did not fail in another bad control by Schluter under the sticks. 3-0 and the feeling that the Barça team was completely outplaying the Austrians.
The corrective at half-time was tough: 5-0. The next two carried magic. The fourth went to Keira Walsh and she went straight to the list of candidates for best goal of the day. Right from the front. Strong and unstoppable for Schluter who was singled out for the previous goal and there was little he could do to prevent the result from continuing to grow, with a reward for Pina’s insistence. The Catalan forward had a great game and was left wanting more.
In the second half the intensity was reduced, while Barça moved the bench and tied up the result even more. Pina, with a penalty goal, added the sixth and, for the seventh, we had to wait until the final stretch of the match. It was Graham Hansen, one of the players who came off the bench.
The Norwegian combined with Patri Guijarro and finished perfectly to put the cherry on top of the match. With an opponent who exhausted their substitutions due to lack of personnel – only making two substitutions, using the two available field players – Pere Romeu’s team scored their second consecutive win in the group stage with a total of 16 goals in two games. Next to nothing. They are the current champions and St. Pölten, who have not yet added in this round, were their new victim. A very affordable rival who arrived shaken and began to chew on his defeat before the opening whistle was announced.
Barça file – St Pölten
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The eleven of FC Barcelona (1-4-3-3): Cata Coll; Jana Fernández, Engen, Marta Torrejón, Ona Batlle; Keira Walsh, Aitana Bonmatí, Kika Nazareth; Vicky López, Ewa Pajor and Claudia Pina.
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El once del St. Pölten (1-4-3-3): Schluter; Schumacher, Johanning, Vracevic, D’Angelo, Dubcova, Hillebrand, Mikolajova; Bruunthaler, Madly and Pekel.
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Goals: Ewa Pajor (32′ and 39′), Claudia Pina (45′ and 52”), Aitana (40′), Walsh (43′), Graham Hansen (87′).
