Suffering what is not written against Cuer Almeria. Sweating the bacon. Among an avalanche of wasted opportunities and granted opportunities. In a moving, crazy game with plot twists. Amidst the anguish, Barça hunted for a triumph that was both essential and hard-earned. A victory with an unexpected protagonist, the captain Sergi Roberto, who with a brace gave the three points to a shaky team with some school playground defensive errors. The first half was a trial court, mainly due to attitude. At least, in the second, with the departure of Ferran Torres, Barcelona managed to get rid of the embarrassment. He had to win the match three times, but he pulled through.
Before that, Barça arrived at the break in yellow and between whistles, well deserved, in the stands. The performance of Xavi’s team had been unbearable. Against Almeria. The last. A team that only has five points and no wins. So good. This Almeria arrived at the break landing in waves in the Barcelona area.
Not even the fact that Raphinha put Barcelona ahead from a corner hadn’t tempered the spirits of some bland and incapable footballers. The Brazilian found the net after Araújo brought the goalkeeper into action with a header. A breath of tranquility went through an Olympian who was already fed up with what he was seeing. At 1-0, Lewandowski, denied in the shootout, conceded the second. The Pole could not beat the goalkeeper all night. How good it would have been for Barça to increase the income because the first draw arrived. Araújo, an unknown player since he plays with a mask, missed a check and gave the ball to Arribas, who enabled Leo Baptistão. The former Espanyol beat Iñaki Peña. The assistant canceled the goal for offside, but after more than a minute of suspense the VAR validated it. A soulless Barcelona was giving a painful show.
The losses of Pedri and De Jong were covered by Xavi with the entry of Sergi Roberto and Fermín. Behind a Christensen in flamboyant mode relieved Koundé. But it soon became clear that Barça did not come into action like a cyclone. Despite the fact that it was three games without a win, Xavi’s men did not show ardour. Isolated actions, without any foundation, without pattern, without ideas, with almost nothing. João Félix didn’t even bother. The Portuguese’s minutes were pathetic. If with the ball the panorama was sketchy, without the ball Barcelona became a horror. Almeria combined as if it were a team from the noble zone and when it reached the domains of Araújo and Christensen, the sense of danger was chewed. inadmissible Xavi could not find solutions in the technical area, he despaired and lowered his head.
The one from Terrassa got tired of João Felix’s inactivity and replaced him at half-time with Ferran Torres. He also relieved Christensen for Koundé.
A double change that spurred the team because Ferran Torres generated much more in two minutes than João Félix in the entire first half. The Valencian, upright, tested Maximiano in a couple of opportunities and Lewandowski, more present in this phase, in another. Barça laid siege to Almeria with more determination. Then the Blaugrana team went ahead again. It was in another corner. Raphinha sent it in at the near post and Sergi Roberto turned his neck with great elegance. A beautiful goal to try to free the Barcelona fans. Now it was necessary not to tease her again and, if possible, to sentence her. They didn’t.
Lewandowski, who was already dreaming of Almeria’s goalkeeper at the time, collided with Maximiano again and then failed to give Raphinha a goal. Chances forgiven that brought a high price when Almeria achieved 2-2 in an absurd action. In a lateral free kick very far away, Iñaki Peña bumped into Araújo and didn’t block and Édgar scored at pleasure. incredible
It was time to row one more time and Xavi burned the ships by going to Lamine Yamal after having given Romeu a bit of ground. But it wasn’t them but Sergi Roberto who acted as a lethal striker to score the third after a phenomenal assist from Lewandowski. Almeria were still able to equalize but Iñaki Peña redeemed himself after a Baba header. In the other area, Sergi Roberto almost made it a hat-trick, but hit the crossbar. Fortunately for Barça, the score did not move any further. what suffering Best of all, they don’t play an official game again until January 4th.
