Alexia Putellas was asked at the end of the match about the permissiveness of the Finnish referee, and the captain answered the question as it deserved, ignoring it, apologizing to the displaced fans, suggesting to her teammates an exercise in self-criticism in the face of the poor performance and demanding greater competitiveness in the Spanish League to get closer to the pace and intensity of the French, unattainable today.
Barça did not play well at all in Turin, they barely resembled themselves as a group, and their players were outplayed by a solid and injured opponent whose players appeared with that face that old champions put on when approached by an insolent candidate willing to discuss hegemony. They couldn’t even breathe.
Barça players tend to dodge defensive pressure through precision passing, with electric combinations and hardly any turnovers. For Lyon, that game does not anesthetize him. It motivates you. The Blaugrana felt the encouragement of their opponents in each possession and, accustomed to more comfortable match situations, they did not recover from the stress until halftime.
A very solid team in defense, compact between the lines and meteoric and lethal in their transitions, Lyon exposed on the field what their leader, the Norwegian Ada Hegerberg, verbalized a few days ago. “There was already football before them.” The wrath. Anger.
Let’s face it. The danger of Lyon, the environmental Barcelona fan realized during the game. Before, little case. Giant screens, street plans and that moral authority over the model itself that only serves to deceive oneself if one forgets that it must be accompanied by a competitive attitude and intensity to survive in the present. Women’s Barça has earned being professional. Putellas’s speech is that of a soccer professional. Without excuses.
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