Johan Cruyff left a thousand phrases for history and in each one of them his philosophy of life and football was impregnated. Today we will focus on one in particular and it is the famous one: “I would rather win 5-4 than 1-0”. Xavi, declared Cruyffista and also defender of this way of seeing football, He has also been forced to defend the narrow victory as a path to final success. Under protest.
The 1-0 and 0-1, the truth is, is not the most spectacular result in football. Although there may be many spectacular matches that for different reasons (success of goalkeepers or lack of effectiveness) fall short in the result.
Yesterday’s game against Athletic Club was one of them. The Barça team made more than enough chances to have left with a larger score but they ran into the post, Joao Félix, or a superb Unai Simónwho stopped a couple more from the Portuguese and also from Fermín, who had two very clear chances.
Marc Guiu’s goal finally managed to put an end to Athletic’s resistance and allowed Barça to add three key points before the Clásico, although first they will have to put a foot and a half in the round of 16 of the Champions League, beating Shakthar on Wednesday in the Lluís Companys stadium.
With the 1-0 victory against Valverde’s men, it seems that Barça, in these games in which they have been missing important players, has recovered the path of ‘unocerismo’ to achieve success. Of the last four games, the narrow victory has been repeated on three occasions.
They beat Sevilla at home with an own goal from Sergio Ramos, a key victory was achieved in Europe against Porto in Do Dragao thanks to a solitary goal from Ferran Torres, then came the two-goal draw against Granada and yesterday against Athletic Club, Guiu saved the three points.
The precedent of last season
Last season’s League was explained, above all, by the robustness of the team and its defense. Also, of course, for the brilliant saves of a very successful Ter Stegen.
On up to 11 occasions the Barça team achieved victory by 1-0/0-1. They repeated this result against five rivals at the Spotify Camp Nou (Celta, Getafe, Valencia, Atlético de Madrid and Osasuna), and six away from home (Mallorca, Valencia, Atlético, Girona, Villarreal and Athletic Club).
A result that was ‘in crescendo’ from the second round of the championship, when Barça was not entirely inspired at the level of play. The 1-0/0-1 was repeated seven times since January alone.