The defense gives Xavi a treasure

It was an inexplicable game. At least in the first part. Inexplicable why Barça came out in a grip. The ball burned so much that it did not go beyond the white midfield. They were 20 minutes ahead and Xavi’s team, with a new defense compared to the one they lost in Almería (Araujo-Koundé-Marcos Alonso-Balde replaced Sergi Roberto-Eric-Christensen-Alba), offered an exercise in solidity and, Above all, commitment.

Control without auction of Madrid

Madrid had control of the game. But in bland control, without any threat. He had the ball, he pushed Barça towards the home of Ter Stegen, well equipped by Koundé, perhaps his best game as a central defender, and with Araujo, destined to be Vinicius’s policeman. A policeman who scrupulously abides by the law.

He spent the night among the madridismo anger, releasing 500-euro bills with Laporta’s screen-printed face onto the Bernabéu grass, and a strange game. Almost impossible to decode because Barça, devoid of Pedri’s ingenuity, Lewandowski’s goal and Dembélé’s dribbling, had no poison.

Ferran moved, sometimes false nine, sometimes thrown to the left wing, with a sacrificed Raphinha, more right-back than winger, helping Araujo in the complex task of putting the tollbooth in the left lane of the white highway. A toll for which Vinicius did not have access because he seemed to forget even his credit card.

Kessié and two rebounds

Not a trace of that Madrid that amazes in Europe. More similar, without a doubt, to the Madrid that drew in the derby with Atlético. I could not with the Barça of the substitutes. No matter how much ball he had, he was unable to focus well. Five shots from the white team in the first 45 minutes and none between the three sticks, astute as Ter Stegen was, in addition, with his fists, clearing two centers that carried some danger. Thus ended the night.

The game passed mysteriously, without the air of a classic, at least in the game, soiled by absurd losses, a sign that the game was a chestnut. It was a survival exercise, chameleonically adapted to what the first round of a Cup demanded where he went with an eleven of circumstances, devoid of up to four pillars. Including Christensen, who had ankle discomfort made him sit on the bench at the Bernabéu.

Camavinga’s clumsiness

There was no explanation for what was happening in the classic until Camavinga, well pressured by Barça (if there is no play or creativity there is no better treasure than a robbery), made a rude mistake. Absolutely rude that caught all of Madrid in disarray. Ferran grabbed the ball and, suddenly, Kessié measured the distance well with Militao so as not to fall offside. Then, his shot, made in the small area, was well saved by Courtois, then entering a series of caroms that silenced Real Madrid. The save by the Belgian goalkeeper, who took out his endless left foot, was the prologue to the Barca goal. The ball undertook a wonderful journey for Barça. As wonderful as unexpected. Militao cleared towards his own goal and Nacho, who touched that ball that kissed the white net.

Barça takes the lead at the Bernabéu. Militão, in own goal. #LaCopaMola pic.twitter.com/ko4iZddbIt

— Soccer in Movistar Plus+ (@MovistarFutbol) March 2, 2023

Araujo’s fierceness

And the Bernabéu remained silent, while the Catalans celebrated with suspense – the VAR intervention was needed – to celebrate that goal whose ideological property belongs to Kessié, who took advantage of Camavinga’s previous clumsiness.

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The inexplicable became a treasure for Barça, which built its work on a giant who was not alone. The giant was Araujo, capable of eclipsing Vinicius with a legendary marking. Although for him it is something routine. The Uruguayan was not alone because Koundé, who was the central defender he was at Sevilla, helped him, as did Marcos Alonso, without forgetting the personality that Balde radiated. And so, without the ball, but with superb defensive ferocity, he built Barça a triumph that reconciled him with himself, as well as providing him with peace. Real Madrid had already left the Bernabéu, disoriented and destroyed.