João Cancelo clenched his fists, looked at the sky, and stared into space for a few seconds. As if he was unable to understand what had happened. There is nothing as beautiful as the things we don’t understand.
That same Barcelona that lost 0-2 with a quarter of an hour remaining took eight minutes to rise from the dead with three goals that led to victory. Although Cancelo had to go further in his thoughts. Because his game was being terrible. He thought badly and had worse times. But the real heroes are those who are born from ruin. He assisted Lewandowski in the Pole’s second goal when Barça was already beginning to believe in something. And the ecstasy came in the same twilight, when the presumed Portuguese full-back took the area to knock down a Celta that somatized the pain of Iago Aspas on the bench.
For Rafa Benítez, if it weren’t for that small notebook in which he twists tactical schemes, ideas and various torments, it would be easy to confuse him with one of those guys played by Joe Pesci in Scorsese’s films. They already know. A hearty meal with a good drink. An upside down smile. A violent outburst of genius. And head towards the trunk. This is how Xavi Hernández’s Barcelona must have felt until the epilogue, catatonic in the bowels of a car parked in front of a swamp.
Benítez’s ploy
Rafa Benítez, whose signing for Celta few understood – because of his cachet, because of his rubbery game proposal – in the face of a career that seemed to have no more seasons in the Spanish League, he had managed to tie up a Barcelona team that was packed. Because the Blaugrana, who had scored ten goals in their last two games – five against Betis, five against humble Antwerp in the Champions League – suddenly found themselves unable to decipher the few paths that Celta was going to allow.
With a defensive line of five players, Barcelona was forced to try to open the field. But both João Félix and Ferran Torres, the extreme theoretical players of the afternoon, ended up occupying interior positions while Marcos Alonso – who started yesterday for Balde – and Cancelo were unable to strike on the edges. The mess was amazing.
Celta, who arrived at the Olímpic Lluís Companys with disturbing numbers, not only defended. Every time Barça got lost at the start, the people from Vigo took to the mountains in danger.
Iago Aspas, who is embarrassed that he has not scored since March 18 –blessed are those who judge football with the propaganda of statistics ahead of them– he warned Ter Stegen, a well-known victim. The forward, standing still, drew a Vaseline that the goalkeeper was able to oppose with his mitt. Although that was nothing more than the preamble to the opening goal.
The Barça team was misplaced in a corner that they did not know how to repel, and after Koundé lost a duel with Luca de la Torre, The ball could have been taken by a striker as correct as Strand Larsen. The Norwegian didn’t even flinch in the one-on-one matchup against Ter Stegen, whom he beat with the routine grace of the bureaucrat.
There was no way for Barça to take advantage of the blow, neither to wake up nor to get organized. Far from it, he was still able to give thanks because Luca de la Torre missed a goal with Ter Stegen down. The German goalkeeper, by the way, had just scored another goal against the insistent Bamba, who spent the first half running and pushing Marcos Alonso to the limit.
De Jong injury
It didn’t help that De Jong injured his ankle – Gavi, one of those who had to rest at the beginning, had to take his place after half an hour – or that delicacy in the interior corridors was a utopia this time.
Xavi tried to help his players open space with his changes after the break. Marcos Alonso did not come out in the second half, and The one who appeared was Lamine Yamal. But the young winger, who still has many situations to live through, especially those that have to do with urgency, had to see how his teammates forgot about his presence for long stretches.
By then, Xavi had already opted for a square in the wide zone, trusting that his wide players would offer width. He did not give it, of course, to Ferran Torres, who while he remained in the field trusted that good fortune would come after passing through the little hole in the funnel. The front one sensed the light, but ended so badly that the self-proclaimed “Jaws” mutated into Spielberg’s papier-mâché.
Celta responded with the perfect counterattack, one of those with whom Benítez frolics in his dreams. Mingueza recovered on his own starting line, Bamba accelerated, Aspas invented and the Greek Douvikas caught the 0-2.
From João Félix and Lewandowski to Laudrup and Romario
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But if something distinguishes this Barça, it is that Xavi Hernández is never satisfied. He was right by placing Raphinha in the midfield. It was the Brazilian who found João Félix before he together with Lewandowski, he emulated the masterpiece of Laudrup and Romario in El Sadar. Raphinha continued, this time enabling Cancelo to offer the Polish striker the 2-2 score.
Although the glory ended up going to Cancelo. Gavi, whose fury does not overshadow his delicacy, watched him grow. And the Portuguese, with that boot that rotates as if it were clay, caused such an explosion of joy in Montjuïc that the stadium’s press stands creaked in time with the plastic seats of the fans. An enthusiastic and youthful fan that he has found in Montjuïc the strange erotica of hell. Cancelo knows what this is about.