There are players who excite with their dribbling, with their goals, with their masterful passes or even with a race to save the ball from going out, and others do it because of their anger, because his commitment and his desire to win. Currently, Barcelona has no choice but to settle for second place. And there is no one who plays with as much heart as Gavi. After an occasion in which Santi Bueno took the ball off Lewandowski’s head, the Andalusian could not contain himself and ended up driving a kick into Gazzaniga’s goal post. There were still 10 minutes left but it was his way of expressing and externalizing his displeasure and frustration for crashing with Girona, for not being able to win, for not being able to turn a page from the elimination of the Cup and for not being able to leave Madrid to 15 points.
The exasperation of the Barça midfielder was understandable, since MÃchel’s men had only kept a clean sheet in one of the previous 27 games, none as a visitor. But the Barça players stayed dry and chained together their second consecutive match without scoring, something that had not happened this season with Xavi, both at the Camp Nou.
In Barcelona, ​​geniuses have played who lived and ran with the ball stuck to their foot like Messi, pure wingers like Neymar or Basora, midfielders who walked on the wire like Iniesta, midfielders with great overflow like Maradona and Laudrup, inventors of dribbling like Ronaldinho and forwards electric like Cruyff. But at the moment, feint is in danger of extinction. Only four dribbles were seen by the fans who went to the Stadium. Almost a mirage.
With Dembélé, Pedri and Frenkie de Jong injured, Raphinha should take responsibility, but the Brazilian, who goes into space, has verticality and an interesting shot, is not exactly Garrincha. The other day he couldn’t with Camavinga, yesterday he barely managed to separate himself from Javi Hernández, his marker. On the other hand, Ansu Fati is more of a finisher than a dribbler. While Lewandowski, in Munich, was used to playing with two sharp and unbalanced wings.
Having more offensive resources, more light, must be a priority for the future. Something is not working in the forward imbalance when Jordi Alba has to play the last quarter of an hour. Where he started playing as a child. But years ago, since the footballer left for Valencia, he delayed his position to be a great full-back on the left. While Estanis Pedrola and Ãngel Alarcón, two youngsters who have already made their debut, watched it from the bench. And the only time that Ferran Torres overwhelmed Riquelme, he received a foul. Start over.
In the end, the same story as against Madrid was repeated. An attack, already with time completed, by Araújo, a rather crude central, created more danger than the rest of the attempts. It makes you think.
