Lamine Yamal rescues the champion from chaos

There are children who do not behave as such. There are children who play like old people. There are children, and Lamine Yamal is one of them, who show they live happily, smiling in the midst of chaos, oblivious to anguish. He did not even tremble, despite the fact that he dangerously walked Barça down the side of a volcano, sliding down that lava that burned him. But he, a minor who is two years away from being able to drive a car, flew over in the midst of the chaos spreading a powerful halo of light to sustain the team. And, of course, to an institution with more than 100 years of history.

Barça did not rule the crazy game. In the first half. Not in the second. Not even at the beginning, with 10 terrible minutes where Villarreal settled in the Ter Stegen area, as if he were going to have an ice cream on a sunny afternoon at La Cerámica. But he ran into the German goal. He did not dominate it either with the 0-2 draw, an exercise in offensive forcefulness (two shots on goal, two goals, a header from Gavi after a finesse from Lamine Yamal and a precise strike from Frenkie de Jong). Nor could he do it later, melted as Barça was.

very weak back

Melted behind, victim of a defensive instability that made him bleed everywhere. Incapable as he was of dominating football with that comfortable advantage, acquired from that lesson in efficiency. It was misrule by flag, despite the fact that the formula of the four midfielders should guarantee him control. Or at least not out of control. Ter Stegen stopped everything he could stop, except Foyth’s header, which jumped alone on the edge of the small area, and Sorloth’s final touch, culminating an excellent attack play by Villarreal.

Excellent, but helped by Barca’s passivity. Sorloth passed for Gerard Moreno. Gerard Moreno ripped the culé behind with a poisonous pass for Pedraza -was there someone on that right wing?-. And Pedraza discovered the gigantic figure of Sorloth. In other words, passes and more passes taking advantage of the disorder of Xavi’s team, who went to the locker room angrily. From above, the coach was located in the upper part of the stadium’s grandstand, everything looks better. And the defects are discovered with greater crudeness. From 0-2 to 2-2 and being Ter Stegen, everything must be said, the best player of Barça.

The right band hole

Xavi’s team conceded up to nine shots in the first 45 minutes and five of them on goal. Not even playing with two midfielders almost in parallel -Oriol Romeu and De Jong were on the same line- was it a guarantee of any calm because Pedraza was lightning on the left flank taking advantage of the fact that Álex Baena was floating fleeing from the band, repeating the model he usually uses Xavi with Bucket.

And the Villarreal Bucket was Pedraza, who was not detected by anyone during the first part in which every minute without Araujo is a drama. It is much more than an absence. Barça loses courage, vigor and, above all, reliability. It is weaker than yesterday. And who knows what tomorrow. At the break, Xavi only changed the axis, bringing on Eric García for Christensen, who was substituted again suffering from physical problems. Nothing changed in the second part. Or if? But for the worse until Lamine Yamal rebelled.

For the worse because Pedraza was reincarnated in the modern version of Milan player Maldini subjecting Barcelona to a huge beating, conceding three goals in just 24 minutes. From the reassuring 0-2 to the disastrous 3-2 because the Villarreal left-back had a blast galloping across the open field, as in the action of the third goal. Excellent pass from Jörgensen, the goalkeeper, to start a counterattack that caught Barça looking at the strident yellow color of the La Cerámica stadium, while Setién’s ‘Maldini’ ran happily for more than 50 meters before having the necessary break to await the arrival from Álex Baena, whose right hand mocked the plastic but sterile stretch of Ter Stegen.

From panic to a furious reaction

And Barça panicked. I was knocked out. Stunned. Then a boy appeared. He is just 16 years and 45 days old. But he plays like an adult, as if he had been playing in the First Division for decades. After the 3-2 he asked for the ball, aware that it was him or him. And it was him. He asked for the ball, shook the beardless forward to his teammates with a right hand that repelled the Villarreal post, acting as an alarm clock for a sleepy team.

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From there, the team found a halo of hope to react from the canvas. Xavi changed the attack and Ferran rewarded that decision with the 3-3, but everything depended on Lamine Yamal, that minor who looked like a grandfather because his game was increasingly impressive in a team that was disoriented. Villarreal was wondering the causes of the tie when that boy grabbed the ball with an overwhelming personality.

A child who is a devil

From the right to the center. From the band inwards, where the spaces disappear and rival legs appear everywhere. He, on the other hand, was not scared. He took an impressive left-footed shot –remember that his shot at the post was with his right- that the post, capricious, frustrated, although with the necessary fortune for the ball to go to Lewandowski’s encounter. Of nothing. Sorry, from Lamine. 3-4. His was the victory. His was the reaction. He asked for the ball and no one took it from him. An assist, two shots at the post, three good dribbles, three completed, 90% accuracy on the pass… Real madness.