BarcelonaNew demonstration of Barça’s strength. The Blaugrana team did not give any option to one of the aspiring theorists to debate their reign, Atlético de Madrid, and took the victory without any difficulty from Centro Deportivo Alcalá de Henares (0-3). Without taking any credit away from Pere Romeu’s players, they win so easily that it will be difficult for them to maintain interest in playing in a competition as unequal as Liga F. Beyond that, the afternoon served to celebrate – and justify – the 675 points from Aitana Bonmatí at the top of the Ballon d’Or ranking.
With the novelty of Esmee Brugts on the left side, the Catalan team imposed their story on the grass from the first minute. It didn’t matter much that Atlético de Madrid had conceded only two goals in the previous eight games. Barça, the leader with plenty of victories and an average of more than four goals per game, is so superior to the rest of the teams in Liga F that the differences were noticeable from the whistle after the emotional minute of silence in memory of the victims of DANA in Valencia.
Matlasseras wanted to go out with the ball played from behind, but the forward pressure of Pere Romeu’s team disabled any good intention. This is the film of most of the duels (not Champions League) of a Barça who put themselves ahead on the scoreboard very early on, in the ninth minute, when Caroline Graham Hansen received Patri Guijarro in the area and she got rid of Andrea Medina with the feint and sprint that characterizes her. The Norwegian winger raised his head and found Aitana, who at the first post beat Lola Gallardo and inaugurated the three-digit goal scorers since he became a professional.
Fantastic way, these 100 goals, to celebrate the Ballon d’Or recently won by the Sant Pere de Ribes midfielder, undisputed beacon of the project and, for a few weeks, also the best paid footballer in the squad and in Europe. With the record achieved, Barça did not take their foot off the accelerator and continued to display a superiority that Atlético de Madrid was unable to dispute at any time. Before the break, Víctor Martín’s men had less than 25% of the ball possession, shot zero times on Cata Coll’s goal and had twelve attempts on goal.
Nothing to do for the Madrid women, that the only consolation they tried to have at the break was to maintain only an unfavorable income target. But not even that: in the last play of the first half, Graham Hansen tried his luck from 25 meters, the ball bounced off Medina and ended up entering the goal of a Gallardo who had managed to thwart up to four clear chances of the Blaugrana. The Spanish international goal was the home team’s best. In attack, no trace of threat for Mapi León and Irene Paredes, comfortable for another afternoon in Liga F.
Pebble, omnipresent, joins the party
In the second half, it took Barça not even five minutes to extend their advantage against the third-placed teams in the League. Thus, in the 51st minute, Guijarro got rid of Agibade’s weak mark to score 0-3 from a corner kick. Very easy for the Mallorcan, a spinal thermometer with a formidable ability to reach the opponent’s goal with danger. From here, blow and blow for the Blaugranas, who minimized risks and devoted themselves to distributing minutes until the 90′. Another day at the office for the champions.
