Barcelona-Girona: winning goal by Arajuo in the 93rd minute

Football changes, but there are old rules that always apply: send a central defender and play center forward, for example. Flick faced with the impotence of his Barça in the 79th minute brought on Araujo for Marc Casadò, via a midfielder to send balls into the area to the strong and tall guy. And the central “charrua” decided the match against Girona in the third of the 4 minutes of injury time, scoring the 2-1 with an excellent right-footed turn from De Jong’s cross. Barça, who were coming off defeats against PSG and Sevilla, are sleeping at the top of La Liga (+1) awaiting Getafe-Real Madrid tomorrow. And next Sunday at the Bernabeu there is the Clásico.

the debut

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Lineup to be invented for Flick, who has 7 absent: Joan Garcia, Ter Stegen, Lewandowski, Ferran Torres, Dani Olmo, Raphinha and Gavi. However, Lamine Yamal, starter, and Fermin, on the bench, return. And the surprise Toni Fernandez, making his debut in La Liga, plays the center forward. The canterano was born a year and two days after Lamine Yamal, 15 July 2008, and is on the pitch with two teammates from 2007.

gluttonous

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In a spectacular first half without a break, two goals, two posts and three incredible opportunities wasted by Girona courtesy of the high and permeable Blaugrana defence. With Lamine Yamal still in mid-service it is still Pedri who lights up Barça. The midfielder opens the match in the 13th minute with six touches from left to right in the opponent’s area, the last a subtle pass towards the unguarded part of the goal: post and goal with Gazzaniga petrified by the surprise. The draw is equally spectacular: an overhead kick from the giant Witsel served by Arnau Martinez from a corner. Bad Lamine Yamal and Cubarsi in coverage.

what a waste

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With the draw, here is Girona’s wasteful festival: three identical counterattacks with men launched alone towards the opponent’s goal with a great save by Szczesny on the Ukrainian Vanat (expected as the new Dovbyk), Portu’s post and Bryan Gil’s high shot. Witsel also forgives the doubling, with Barcelona unable to materialize possession and pressure.

ARAUJO CENTER FORWARD

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The second half was a monologue for Barcelona, ​​slowed down for a long time by aiming errors and saves by Gazzaniga, sensational on Rashford and careful on the possessed Fermin who entered the break for the disoriented Toni Fernandez. Flick removed Pedri and Lamine Yamal after an hour due to obvious force management issues which however undermined his team’s creativity. And 10′ from time he brought on center back Araujo to send him to play center forward. He didn’t see the ball until his last breath, with Barcelona’s growing frustration and Flick’s dismissal for two yellow cards in quick succession in protest of 4 minutes of added time. The German will not be able to be on the bench at the Bernabeu next Sunday, but in the meantime he celebrated the goal of his invented ‘nueve’ with a gesture of his umbrella full of anger. Barça are injured, but they are there.