In a game that was more fun than well played, Barça regained second place ahead of Girona before going to Montilivi on Saturday. On a dog day, with rain and wind in a stadium that is already not very welcoming, Barcelona faced the first match after the club and Xavi confirmed the continuity of the coach. And he did it by chasing a sawtooth victory against Valencia. With major errors, with good intentions and playing against ten throughout the second half, the Barcelona team won with three headed goals, two of them after two corners, and one from a free kick.
At stake was and is the minimum objective that the Blaugrana team has left, trying to win the runners-up position that will give them a ticket for the next Super Cup. In front, a Valencia that is fighting commendably to return to Europe led by Rubén Baraja and a handful of young people. They only submitted by air, through which Fermín and Lewandowski rose, this one twice. The Pole crowned his night with a hat trick completed from a free kick.
After two consecutive defeats that condemned them to a blank season, Barça sought to rise as much as possible within a dark gray, almost black panorama. As there was not much more wax than what was burning, the Blaugrana coach decided on the same eleven from the classic with the forced change of the injured De Jong. Fermín came in for him, who is always motivated and never haggles over a meter, which is already a lot the way Barcelona is.
From the first moment there was a game in which the ball was a monopoly of Xavi’s team. The occasions were another story. Because it was quickly seen that Araújo and Cubarsí, who was relieved at half-time, were not having their best night and that Caín’s team could get past any long ball. Because of Peter’s speed and the influence of the wind. Hugo Duro and Peter were close to 0-1 in similar plays, but the one who opened the scoring was Fermín. The midfielder headed Raphinha’s cross into the net with a prodigious jump. If any Blaugrana deserved to score, it was him because of the interest he was putting in it.
But as has been happening in recent games, the advantage lasted very little for Barcelona, ??victim of ridiculous individual errors. The first was committed by Ter Stegen. The goalkeeper, with intolerable frivolity, wanted to throw a hat at Hugo Duro but he did it poorly. The striker got hold of the ball and achieved the tie in fits and starts. Ter Stegen apologized to his teammates. It was no wonder but the damage had already been done.
The game was already a storm for Barça. The problems were accentuated when Araújo ate another deep ball and not only did he not fix it but he committed a resounding penalty on Peter.
The maximum penalty was transformed by Pepelu. Valencia had already won and the match was too reminiscent of other Montjuïc episodes, such as those against Villarreal or Granada.
It is true that until half-time Barcelona deserved to balance the score. Araújo headed the post, Cancelo forced Mamardashvili to intervene and Lamine Yamal made mischief on the right.
In one of these incursions the Valencian goalkeeper was sent off, who failed a control, left the ball dead to Lamine Yamal and cleared it with his hand outside the area. After viewing the screen, the referee showed the goalkeeper a deserved red card.
Valencia was left with ten players at the end of the break. The match was a centrifuge and Xavi intervened without delay. To the field Iñigo Martínez and Sergi Roberto.
It didn’t take long for Barça to make it 2-2. It was materialized by Lewandowski, who beat Doménech with his head after a corner. The public breathed a sigh of relief and what can we say about an always troubled Xavi, who was stirring in the technical area.
Valencia kept their temper and prepared to dig in as the minutes passed, playing with the Blaugrana’s restlessness. The spaces were reduced to a minimum and João Félix and Pedri appeared on the scene in search of a loophole. Barça did not have much precision or ideas, but they went and went without ceasing.
It could have been even worse when Pedri, just out, saved a goal by stealing the ball from Diego López without committing a penalty. Because Barcelona moved with more heart than neurons. It generated danger basically from set pieces. Like when Doménech repelled a header from Araújo. It was clear that Barça found a vein there, which they exploited to the maximum to turn the result around. Lewandowski, also with a header, scored the third after another corner that Domenech was unable to abort.
He sang Montjuïc after doing the wave because no one understands this audience and Barcelona achieved a victory over water, worked and moved. The fourth still arrived. A ferris wheel. Like the season.
