Gavi had done everything right. Or almost. His game, especially defensively, was about to be perfect. No, it’s not easy at all but there was no sign of Bellingham, Madrid’s best player. And European football.
He was hidden under the tiny figure of the Andalusian midfielder, capable as he was even of winning aerial balls. But the Englishman was doing his thing: two shots on goal, two goals and Madrid, which shares the lead with Girona, escapes by four points. And Barça was stunned without really knowing what had happened.
More than an hour had passed and Xavi was happy, even though his team had hit the post twice (a right hand from Fermín in the first half and a header from Iñigo Martínez in the second) without knowing it was the prologue to the Barcelona disaster.
“It has been shown that they don’t need much to score”
Barça goalkeeper
Gavi had Bellingham under control in a sad Madrid that only woke up when Modric appeared on the Montjuïc pitch. “It has been shown that they do not need much to score,” confessed a saddened Ter Stegen without wanting to seek rational explanations for what happened in the classic.
A right hand that changed the landscape
And what happened? Well, Gavi cannot be in all places at the same time, even if it projects that sensation. Curiously, a header from the Andalusian was transformed, much to his chagrin, into an assist for the Englishman, whose imposing right-footed shot from outside the area – perhaps it was 35 meters or was it 40? – stripped Barcelona naked. That shoe shook Montjuïc in such a way that it changed the landscape forever.
Out of nowhere, there was the tie. Out of nowhere, the 1-2 score came, signed by Bellingham. Who else! What happened? Well, Xavi’s team, worn down and tired despite replacing the entire offensive structure (started with Cancelo-Ferran Torres-João Félix and ended with Raphinha-Lewandowski-Lamine Yamal) to inject the electricity that would activate his team. Activated it was in that first hour. Then he disconnected in the final half hour coinciding with the changes. Ancelotti changes. And changes from Xavi too.
Football is indecipherable. And if Madrid is involved even more so. Bellingham had not been seen. Modric appeared and pushed, who would have imagined it!, Barça to Ter Stegen’s home. Suddenly, the Englishman went back to being who he had been. The best.
“We can’t be as tied up as we were in the first goal”
Barça player
Related news
He forgot about Gavi’s marking, which paid, logically, the consequence of so much effort, and offered a lesson in forcefulness and effectiveness. Two shots on goal, two goals: one from outside the area as if he were a midfielder from the last century and another in the small area, acting as a center forward. “We can’t be as tied up as we were with the first goal,” Gavi complained bitterly.
He cleared with his head, no one went for the rebound and Bellingham invented a monumental goal (it was 1-1) that anticipated, without Barça realizing, the magnitude of the tragedy. “Yes, it has made a difference. The first is a very strong shot and the second is a lateral center, it is our mistake because it enters the second line. We had talked about it and what has made the difference is the effectiveness,” he lamented Xavi.