0-2 in the 60th minute. The team sunk, proclamations for Xavi’s dismissal. Whistles at half-time, general depression after João Cancelo’s mistake that had facilitated the second goal (m. 58) and that was going to frustrate the comeback. The hecatomb suddenly became a catharsis.
Suddenly they cascaded three goals in 11 minutes of madness, the team is immersed, imbued, contaminated, with the state close to paranoia in which the club finds itself, and which has not yet been transmitted to the fans, happy and excited still to see their own, and that after 38 days of live abstinence go to the mountain and sign the second best attendance of the season (46,229 spectators), only lower than that of the classic (50,112).
Strong emotions arose for the team in a night as commendable as it was dramatic. Those 11 minutes of madness in which Gündogan closed the gap (m. 60), Pedri tied (m. 68) and Bailly’s arm (m. 71) closed a tremendous comeback that made Montjuïc delirious. But those 11 minutes didn’t end there. It was left broken, and The euphoria turned into a deep depression.
Eleven more minutes of madness
There were another 11 minutes of madness that started in ’90. A panic disorder. The team entered a state of alienation which is no longer transitory because it is repeated. Villarreal had already tied and Barça, excited in spirit, launched again to regain the advantage. And he licked his lips with a penalty that the referee gave him and the VAR took away.
In the psychosis that had overwhelmed Montjuïc, like the faint fog that invaded the mountain, Villarreal scored two goals with the team disorganized, dismasted, and the hysterical coach, who shouted “it’s a shame!” to a camera for the missed penalty, and then he shit on everything because his boys didn’t make a foul that would have prevented (or not), the fourth goal and the trigger for the final disaster with the fifth goal.
Romeu’s balance
The team was broken without the initial remedy that Xavi had thought of. Oriol Romeu was no longer there, recovered by Xavi to obtain “balance and more positional football”, a subterfuge to avoid the need to repopulate the defense and make it more aggressive. Athletic once again denounced the team’s appalling decline compared to last year. Not only did he score goals in crucial moments (before the first minute of play, just beginning the second half, at the limit of the first half of overtime), but there were four.
Romeu contributed aggressiveness (he saw the team’s first card to cut off an advance in the center of the field) but he did not correct the laxity of his teammates. Sorloth moved his body to Araujo, who is no longer the corrective defender who repairs other people’s mistakes, but rather contributes to them, and Christensen does not overwhelm any forward inside the area. He watched Gerard Moreno from Plaza España.
Cubarsi can handle Sorloth
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Ulldecona’s midfielder also served for Gündogan to advance his position and the team to take advantage of his last pass. It was essential, however, that Gündogan received some ball. They passed close to him, but not to him, capitalized by the external attacks of Koundé and Lamine Yamal. The youth raids were the only way to access the Jörgensen area.
Romeu and Christensen were substituted, forcing Xavi to make drastic decisions at half-time. Héctor Fort gave up his space at left back to João Cancelo. On the first aerial ball, Cubarsí, 11 years younger and 13 centimeters smaller, threw Sorloth to the ground in the body. That response was already worth it, as a small sign of change, of the many that are necessary to change Barça’s drift.