The extraordinary dynamics of Barcelona won over the needs of Cádiz. With many rotations, Barça also emerged victorious from Nuevo Mirandilla. The Blaugrana have gone 13 games without losing and continue to make the most of their remaining options in the League. A flash from João Félix, a footballer who has been dressing as a genius in recent days, served to certify the process while looking askance at PSG and the Bernabéu. Barça entered the big week in an acrobatic way, with a bicycle kick from one of its stars and a popcorn from its goalkeeper.
In a parenthesis match, sandwiched between the double Champions League duel with PSG and with the classic just around the corner, Barcelona lacked harmony on the field but made up for it with activation and with the details of a different footballer as he is. João Félix.
With so many new faces it was very difficult for Barça to be a harmonious and recognizable team. The team looked like a Frankenstein, made up of scraps. Xavi, who watched the game from a press box, made eight changes to the lineup. Only Ter Stegen, Cubarsí and Sergi Roberto repeated from the headlines in Paris while Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, Araújo, Koundé and Gündogan were given a rest, the latter facing suspension and at risk of missing the visit to the Bernabéu.
Evidently, with several players without many opportunities, including Marcos Alonso, who had not played for five months, or Vitor Roque, who had not been a starter since Vigo in mid-February, the game did not have much rhythm. However, the Blaugrana took control thanks to a midfield made in La Masia and above all the far from silent leadership of Pau Cubarsí.
At 17 years old, the center back eats the grass without caring about the rival, the field or the competition, he takes advantage of each day in the elite as if someone were going to wake him up from sleep. An unfounded fear because every game is presented as essential in this Barça. Hence, as soon as he saw the yellow card for making a tactical foul as a veteran, the coaching staff decided to change his profile so that he would face Sobrino and not the powerful Chris Ramos. But no one dared to remove it.
That youthful enthusiasm that Cubarsí has ??and that Fermín also exemplifies, with his intensity and quickness in looking at goal, is what João Félix has always lacked. Although this time, surrounded by Vitor Roque and Ferran Torres, the Portuguese had no choice but to act as a true reference in attack.
Without Lewandowski, suspended like Cancelo and Iñigo, Vitor Roque was at nine but he didn’t show much either, greatly overwhelmed by Ousou’s rudeness. The Brazilian has not made his debut in the Champions League and barely takes advantage of the opportunity to leave his mark in the League.
The championship is being the territory of João Félix, who has decided to keep Barcelona alive week after week. The winger has found that consistency that was so demanded of him. He is on fire. He opened the scoring at the Metropolitano, gave a decisive assist to Raphinha against Las Palmas and was the stiletto in Cádiz.
Nobody can doubt that he is a special footballer, with excellent quality and a brilliant spark. Every time he intervened in Nuevo Mirandilla he went to illuminate the game and his team. A player of flashes and moments rather than leading, this time he understood that he should be the one to lead Barça to victory with a flag goal. After half an hour, Marcos Alonso curled a corner kick and the Cádiz defense scored at the near post. The rebound went towards the far post where João Félix surprised his markers, Javi Hernández and Iza Carcelén, by taking an acrobatic shot out of his hat, almost like a bicycle kick, with his back to the goal, in the heart of the area.
The genius of the Portuguese left Ledesma petrified under the sticks and dealt a hard blow to the Cádiz fans, who are fighting to stay in First Division. The 0-1 was a work of art, a delicatessen, the difference between being able to afford that luxury that exists in one squad and another.
And before the break the second could have arrived when Sergi Roberto, with his head, gave Fermín the lead, whose shot was cleared over the Chust line when he had already surpassed Conan Ledesma.
The goal-scoring aspect is not one of the yellow team’s strengths, with just 21 goals in 31 games. And the only time he was able to score the goal, he didn’t get on the scoreboard because Juanmi was offside. While Cádiz added forwards with Maxi Gómez, Machís and Roger Martí, Barcelona turned to Koundé, Pedri and Lamine Yamal to have more control and to ensure Christensen’s presence in the classic.
The visitors suffered little and always had the card to resort to from João Félix, who was a threat every time he intervened. First he volleyed a cross from Ferran Torres that went just past the post and then, with his right foot and from the front, he shot at the base of the woodwork. The second goal lingered but it was not closed and in the end Ter Stegen had to fly, with a shot from Samassékou, to close his sixth day with a clean sheet, certify the victory and extend Xavi’s method.
Cádiz: Ledesma, Iza, Víctor Chust (Pires 83), Ousou, Javi Hernández, Alcaraz, Álex Fernández (Samassekou 77), Robert Navarro (Machís 77), Sobrino, Chris Ramos (Maxi Gómez 51), Juanmi (Roger 77)
Coach: Mauricio Pellegrino
Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Héctor Fort (Pedri 61), Cubarsí, Christensen (Koundé 61), Marcos Alonso, Oriol Romeu, Sergi Roberto, Fermín (Raphinha 80), Ferran Torres, João Félix (Marc Casadó 84), Vitor Roque (Lamine Yamal 61)
Coach: Xavi Hernández
Stadium: Nuevo Mirandilla (19,607 spectators)
Referee: Pulido Santana (Canarian).
Cards: Yellow to Cubarsí, Sergi Roberto, Alcaraz, Javi Hernández, Ter Stegen, Roger.
Goal: 0-1 João Félix (36).
