FC Barcelona - Athletic Club

FC Barcelona 4-Athletic Club 1


Athletic Club lost to FC Barcelona by 4-1 (Jeffren, Bojan-2-, Messi and Susaeta were the goal scorers) and we’ll have to wait and see the results of the round to know in what situation the European struggle is in before taking on Almería at San Mamés. It’s difficult to beat the Catalan team, and even more so at home, regardless of the eleven in their line up, but it’s even more difficult to do this when quantitatively and qualitatively more goal-scoring opportunities than those of the rival are wasted. The Red-Whites left the field at halftime with an unfavourable 2-0 score against them and in the second half, besides the goal, Athletic Club had eight clear occasions to find the back of the net. On the contrary, the current champion had just four, but was spot on in two before Susaeta scored on behalf of Athletic.

The start was not bad and only 3 minutes into the game Susaeta finished off with a shot at goal that just missed. Later the very same Susaeta led a counterblow, two against one, with the collaboration of David Lopéz, but the ending was not ideal. Barcelona, had ball possession, something usual, but did not create excessive danger.

To mention something, in the 12th minute Maxwell, on the inside left for the occasion, took a shot at goal that went out and despite not intervening in the final metres, the danger came by means of Messi. Nothing new. A quarter of an hour into the match Touré Yayá took a deviated shot at goal and soon afterwards Javi Martínez took a weak shot at goal that went straight to Valdés’s hands. Messi, this time, did appear in a counterblow with Bojan in the 21st minute, but his shot went astray.

The match was not one of those so-called frenetic ones, but as everyone knows Barça doesn’t need too much to score a goal. It was the 27th minute when Abidal centred a ball from the left well so that Jeffren could push it to the back of the net near the second post. Athletic did not respond right away and, in fact, Barcelona had the following goal-scoring opportunity, this time with a Chygrynskyi header that missed.

In spite of the sorrows, our team could have equalized in the 34th minute when a ball kicked by Gurpegi to the left wing was well-centred by Gabilondo and that, after Chygrynskyi’s interrupted clearance, had left Llorente alone against Valdés, but his shot at goal sailed over the crossbar. On the contrary, FC Barcelona’s ability to score became real in very little time, not only when Bojan gave Iraizoz a work out in the 37th, but also two minutes later when demonstrating that playing against Athletic stimulates his goal scoring glands. He received a pass from Puyol, after Javi Martínez lost possession of the ball from behind when the goalie was putting the ball back into play, beating Iraizoz easily. Moreover, his initial destination was the bench, but as Ibrahimovic had some discomfort in the soleus during the warm up he was catapulted, bloody oath, to the starting eleven line up.

Those who had been warming up prior to the break, Toquero and Yeste, stepped in for David Lopéz and Gabilondo with a certain touch up of the lines. Toquero positioned himself in the forward position, Susaeta on the right flank and Yeste on the left. Athletic came onto the field offensively, with desire, pressuring ahead, with the intention of claiming that the difference on the scoreboard was not so on the pitch and the second half got underway the same way it ended, near Valdés’ realm and giving him quite a lot of work. As shown with the Red-Whites having eight goal scoring opportunities and the Catalans only half. Let’s go over what happened. Just after the restart, Toquero and Llorente, both with a header, had the opportunity to get the team back into the match. Valdés repelled the first one and the second one went astray. In the 52nd another Llorente header ended in corner and Javi Martínez had another exceptional opportunity to shorten distances, but the ball ended up a corner kick again. The corner kick was taken and Valdés had no chance of catching the ball, but Gurpegi’s header went out at the so-called second post.

Xavi replaced Sergio Busquets, a substitution that helped FC Barcelona extremely when it came to retaking control of the match with the added luck of putting the encounter on the right track in very short time. Iraizoz sliced a ball to Messi’s feet, Jeffren was injured and before Pedro could walk onto the pitch, Bojan scored the third following a good collective move which ended with Abidal’s pass behind. Half an hour still to go.

Perhaps any other team would have thrown in the towel, but Athletic is not like that and during the remaining half an hour, a bit long at Camp Nou, showed that the homemade efficacy was overwhelming. The match had already been determined, but the intensity did not wane and even sparks flew between Touré Yayá and Javi Martínez, with enough merit on behalf of the Barcelona player to end his participation in the match before time.
Nonconformist dynamics in hand, Llorente had another go once again with a header to beat Valdés, however, it went over the crossbar. And with no time for regrets, in the 67th, Pedro’s centre combined with San José’s slipping over once more, was enough for Messi to score the fourth goal. A new palpable example of effectiveness being innate for some players and/or teams.

Iturraspe stepped in for Llorente in the 70th minute and Susaeta was once more sent to play more upfront and was even rewarded deservingly for his hard work in the 77th when intercepting a pass from Yeste that allowed him to face up to Valdés and beat him coolly. The joy could have been greater if Iturraspe, a shot at goal at point-blank range, did not go so far as to run into the goalkeeper immediately after, while Iraizoz was also ready to send a good shot at goal by Xavi in the 81st to corner.

Meanwhile the locals did the rounds per second, it’s a fine line between spectacle and the lack of humility, cheered on with olés more akin to those of other latitudes, without thinking that this is not always going to be like that for them, because cycles come to an end, things change and because, in addition to the comings and goings of players and/or coaches, it is materially impossible for a team to play this well for eternity.