Although the concessions continued in their own area, the Blaugrana recovered their self-esteem, appetite and vertigo against an Elche with as much personality as it had little spark, brought down by the triggering of Lamine, Ferran and Rashford. It was not a game to get excited about in Montjuïc nor was it a game for many reproaches due to the string of casualties despite the reappearance of Olmo and Lewandowski. The improvement was so relative that Barcelona fans will surely have to have the same patience with the team as they suffered with the return to the Spotify Camp Nou. We must buy time without conceding more points to mark the distance with Atlético and Villarreal and not lose sight of the leader Madrid. It was enough for now against Elche with the decisive power of the three forwards and a good version of De Jong.
3
Wojciech Szczesny, Jules Koundé, Eric García, Ronald Araujo, Alejandro Balde (Gerard Martín, min. 73), Frenkie de Jong, Lamine Yamal (Roony Bardghji, min. 87), Marc Casadó, Marcus Rashford (Robert Lewandowski, min. 73), Fermín López (Dani Olmo, min. 65) and Ferran Torres (Dro Fernández, min. 87)
1
Iñaki Peña, Álvaro Núñez, David Affengruber, Adrià Pedrosa (John Donald, min. 81), Pedro Bigas (Héctor Fort, min. 69), Marc Aguado, Aleix Febas, Rafa Mir, Martim Neto (Rodrigo Mendoza, min. 45), Germán Valera (Yago Santiago, min. 69) and André Silva (Álvaro Rodríguez, min. 73)
Goals
1-0 min. 8: Lamine Yamal. 2-0 min. 11: Ferrán Torres. 2-1 min. 41: Rafa Mir. 3-1 min. 60: Rashford
Referee Miguel Sesma Espinosa
yellow cards
Martim Carvalho Neto (min. 35)
It is not easy to find a collective solution when each match poses a problem, none as delicate as the last one, which consists of replacing Pedri, a footballer who has no replacement in Barcelona. For the purposes of the lineup, Casadó played and De Jong’s benefits and responsibilities increased, while Araujo occupied Cubarsí’s position. Defensive vulnerability, however, is not an exclusive issue of the centre-backs and full-backs, but also of the losses that make continuity in the passing line difficult and the failed pressure on the opponent’s court due to the lack of hard-working forwards like Raphinha. The opponents get bigger when they see Barça play. Elche was so confident with its initial superiority with the ball that it was condemned in two plays resolved without blinking and in just ten minutes by Lamine and Ferran.
The recovery football worked much better than the elaboration football, and the Blaugrana finished off the two armed transitions into the net after an error by Affengruber and a slip by Pedrosa. The effectiveness was prodigious: two shots and 2-0. Balde’s progression was as profound as Lamine’s braking, breaking and finishing at 1-0 was effective, in the same way that Fermín’s speed in driving allowed Ferran to be enabled. Elche, a team as clean as it was balanced, found themselves with a score that was difficult to overcome after a long period of sterile possession, a couple of changes of orientation and different individual marks on Barça’s best individuals. In the absence of fluidity, Barcelona was dynamic and intense, more vigorous and energetic than usual, applied and better synchronized in the pressure around De Jong.
The defensive imbalances are in any case so noticeable that a match can never be considered closed in favor of Barça. Elche’s perseverance found its reward before reaching the break with its first shot on goal, when the Barça defense failed to stop Rafa Mir, who started in his own half, beat Araujo after a first touch from Varela and crossed the ball to Szczesny. Barcelona’s initial forcefulness disappeared in a surprising way and Lamine did not hit a free kick, the ex-Azulgrana Peña replied to a shot from De Jong and Rashford also did not hit twice. Faced with Barcelona’s fluctuations, Elche’s football was always the same, as if it did not look at the scoreboard or the other way around, just pending the manual already learned from Sarabia.
Szczesny had to pay as much attention to the game as Iñaki Peña. The game was very open until Rashford finally got it right. Very participative offensively and always distracted in defense, the Englishman scored his sixth goal with an impeccable left foot after receiving from Fermín. Rashford controlled, accelerated and finished before Peña’s helplessness. The striker’s role increased when he was shocked and the game continued for Rafa Mir to hit the post after Szczesny’s meritorious intervention.
The play had such an impact that it marked the end of the contest and gave way to the round of changes and the return of Olmo and Lewandowsi while Fort defended his friend Lamine. The winger was just as irregular as the team, pressured by the classification, the infirmary and a very charged environment for an October as bad as November 2024. The atmosphere demanded a victory that was more therapeutic than categorical on the way to Bruges. The motto is to go game by game and not lose footing in the League or the Champions League.
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