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Barcelona’s dream run continued in Serbia final night time because the Blaugrana recorded their seventh straight win throughout all competitions to push themselves up the UEFA Champions League standings.
Hansi Flick didn’t rotate his crew as a lot as anticipated with solely Hector Fort, Alejandro Balde and Dani Olmo rested from the earlier outing. Contemplating the opposition’s low block which was not simple to get previous, it was a wise determination.
Ultimately, the Catalans deposited 5 objectives previous Crvena Zvezda with Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Fermin Lopez and Inigo Martinez all getting on the scoresheet.
The win takes them to sixth place within the standings with solely Liverpool, Sporting CP, Monaco, Brest and Inter Milan forward of them on the desk.
Barça Common brings you three takeaways from the crew’s day trip in Belgrade.
Cruise management
There was no dearth of hype across the Rajko Mitic Stadium forward of Wednesday night time’s conflict with many calling the sector a critical fortress with a frightening and pressurising ambiance.
As anticipated, followers flocked to the venue and imposed themselves effectively earlier than kickoff with deafening chants from the stands. Barcelona, nevertheless, have been surprisingly unperturbed.
That includes a crew with a really younger core, there was critical doubt as to how the teenage abilities would deal with the ambiance, however they have been surprisingly essentially the most calm of the lot as they performed with critical maturity.
Whereas chants for Crvena Zvezda dominated the stands, Barcelona dominated on the sphere from begin to end and didn’t drop their guard at any level within the sport.
Within the first half, the guests managed the proceedings with ease and had the higher probabilities regardless of not being in high gear.
After the break, the facet switched on and returned to the sphere enjoying on the very best gear, as soon as once more sustaining full management and cruising by the 90 minutes with consolation.
Evidently, this comes as big reward for the crew not solely as an enchancment from the second half towards Espanyol but in addition given how tough it’s to keep up dominance with out dropping one’s guard.
An unconventional hat-trick
Kounde was good vs Purple Star. (Photograph by Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Photos)
It might not be honest to start evaluating particular person gamers for his or her performances towards Purple Star Belgrade, for your complete crew stepped up with critical conviction.
Pau Cubarsi battled on till he suffered a horrific wound, Inigo Martinez scored and led the defence whereas Marc Casado and Pedri once more ran the present in midfield with the previous, particularly, placing in a monstrous shift.
Even the assault continued their free-flowing soccer and scored objectives for enjoyable. One participant, nevertheless, who deserves a particular point out for his show final night time is Jules Kounde.
It’s nearly not possible to consider that the Frenchman was a centre-back even two years in the past, for his evolution since shifting to right-back has been phenomenal. Now, he can rightfully be referred to as among the best on the planet in his place.
Kounde was sensational for Barcelona at right-back in Belgrade and registered a surprising hat-trick – of assists.
He first arrange Robert Lewandowski’s second aim of the night time within the 53rd minute earlier than recording an ideal cut-back to arrange Raphinha’s aim minutes later. His third help got here later within the sport for Fermin Lopez, as soon as once more with an ideal cross.
Aside from his assists, he registered 4 key passes, and three defensive actions and accomplished 93% of his passes. Add to that his motion off the ball and one can see the complete image of Kounde’s masterclass.
Two gamers who didn’t belong
Whereas countless positives can certainly be drawn for Barcelona’s win final night time, it’s equally essential to not get carried away by what’s working proper but in addition flip consideration to areas that dissatisfied.
Operating such a vital verify on the sport at Rajko Mitic will reveal solely two gamers in garnet-and-blue who dissatisfied final night time, no less than in comparison with the expectation positioned round a crew of such high quality.
Gerard Martin was the primary participant who appeared misplaced on the night time and it’s clear that he’s not a determine reduce out for the primary crew but.
The 22-year-old starlet was not convincing in defence, usually didn’t mark his man and even misplayed his passes within the last third. His lowest second within the sport was when he single-handedly performed the opposition onside for his or her lone aim.
The second participant to have left an general detrimental impression was the crew’s captain Frenkie de Jong who made his first begin since getting back from damage.
De Jong was removed from horrendous and didn’t make any blatant errors on the ball. The difficulty, nevertheless, was his uninspired manner and tendency to gravitate in direction of easy-passing shops with minimal risk-taking.
He was not half as energetic as Casado off the ball both as his half-hearted strain didn’t reap a lot reward. In any case, his placement solely pushed Pedri to a extra superior position the place he couldn’t exert his dominance within the sport as he has carried out all season.
