Slavia Praha 2 vs Barcelona 4: DeJong, Fermin Sparkle Under Prague's Lights as Barcelona Almost Drop The Ball
In the 56th minute, Barcelona lost the ball in midfield. Praha’s bore down on Barcelona’s goal with menace. Up until that moment, Praha had threatened but not really stomped the grass in Barcelona’s penalty box. Yet as he bore down on goal, a familiar sense of dread crept into any Culer who knows Flick’s team too well.
But Frenkie De Jong stretched to steal the ball from his feet right at the edge of the penalty area and prevent what would, at the very least, have been a dangerous attack. That was a defensive highlight for the totemic Barca midfielder, who was having a revelation in the first half.
Minutes before that defensive tackle to prevent a goal, he had galloped through the midfield to set up a chance for Barcelona. First, he set up Raphinha, who fired over. Minutes after that, the defensive tackle also galloped through the midfield, shrugging off tackles like they were merely water droplets on his shoulder to set up other chances and build more promising attacks for Barcelona.
In short, he had a tremendous second half. He needed to have one because it was his lack of defensive awareness that allowed Kusej to sneak into the backpost and bundle the ball over for Praha’s first goal early in the first half.
Unfortunately, the same redemption couldn’t be achieved for his midfield partner, Pedri. Targeted and tracked everywhere like a shadow by the voracious David Moses, Pedri gave the ball away several times in the first half to forget for the talismanic Barcelona midfielder.
He started the second half well, Pedri, even sneaking into the penalty box to have a shot on goal early in the second half. But unfortunately, his niggling injury issues resurfaced, and the entire Barcelona world watched in defeat as he gingerly walked off the pitch to be replaced by Dani Olmo after presumably pulling a hamstring.
Another player who had an excellent game is the often-maligned Fermin Lopez. Look, if you are disappointed that Fermin doesn’t control the game like Pedri, nor dribble through desperately flapping limbs like Frenkie De Jong, or provide neat, cute flicks like Olmo, then I am sorry, the problem is your expectations of him, not Fermin himself.
Fermin, The Space-Sniffer and Sharpshooter
Fermin is what I will call a space sniffer, and once he sniffs the space, he shoots. A very limited spec-sheet, yes, especially for a possession-heavy team like Barcelona, or at least, a culturally possession-heavy team (because let’s be honest, Flick’s Barcelona is not a possession merchant like Barcelona of old). But he is also a player perfectly suited for the vertical style of play that is Flickball.
That first goal was a true testament of what Fermin brings to the team. Eric Garcia, who turned in a good performance with the ball, was given room by his marker Sadilek to stride into the midfield. Ahead of him were some movements, exactly what a player in Garcia’s position would love to see. Raphinha dropped, De Jong skipped ahead of him.
Garcia slipped the ball to the dropping Raphinha, who flicked it onwards to Frenkie De Jong. The Dutch midfielder then used his incredible vision and ability to slide through Fermin Lopez, who had sniffed the space opening up ahead of him and was already running into the penalty box. Fermin took one touch and squeezed it in at the near post, off the shoulder of Stanek, Praha’s keeper.
It was an impudent finish, a finish of a player playing through waves of confidence. If you remember, as it was he who delivered Barcelona’s victory against City rivals, Espanyol, almost three weeks ago, with his two assists.
That was the equalizing goal, but Fermin would put Barcelona 2-1 up to once again lift the shoulders of the Blaugrana team that was huffing and puffing at the Fortuna Arena against the team with the weakest attack in the Champions League.
Pedri drifted to the right side, where he combined well with Roony, who found him in the right half space with a neat pass. Pedri turned and slid the ball to an unmarked Fermin at the edge of the penalty box. And listen, one thing teams are going to learn to do is not to leave Fermin unmarked at the edge of the penalty box. He may have a limited scope of things he excels at, but those he excels at, he does them much better than most in his position. One of the things he excels at is shots from outside the penalty box. He struck the ball sweetly into the near post, beyond the grasp of an outstretched Stanek for 2-1 Barcelona.
Unfortunately, that was as good as it got in an uninspiring first half from Barcelona. The Blaugrana conceded the equalizer not long after Fermin’s second when, once again, a corner was flicked on the near post and came off Lewandowski’s back to creep in beyond Joan Garcia. 2-2.
Second half Rebirth
Barcelona started that second half strongly, obviously their ears still ringing from that earful that Flick must have given them in the dressing room. Eric Garcia started that second half in imperious form, especially as the launch pad for Barcelona’s attacks. With all of Barcelona’s front and midfielders under a man-to-man door bolt, Barcelona’s defenders were the ones tasked with bringing the ball forward and trying to create something.
Eric Garcia floated two brilliant crossfield balls early in the second half that should have resulted in more. The first found Pedri, who shot well over, while the second found Lewandowski, whose shot Stanek saved.
From there, De Jong took over, dribbling through Praha’s midfield like they were cones, sliding in his teammates, and generally putting in a shift in midfield that Barcelona desperately needed. And soon enough, Slavia Praha’s rigid man-to-man marking system began to crumble into fine powder blowing in the wind, and Barcelona soon started creating chances.
Roony, Lewandowski, and Fermin all took turns taking shots at Stanek. You will notice that I barely mention Raphinha, and that’s because, aside from that flick to De Jong in the build-up to the first goal, he was another who had a game to forget.
But Barcelona would find that elusive third when Olmo, on for the injured Pedri, controlled the ball at the edge of the penalty box from a Praha clearance, shifted it to his right foot and picked his spot in the top right corner beyond the reach of Stanek, and honestly, beyond the reach of any keeper. Only Mr. Fantastic could reach that ball, and even he would need to stretch to the very edges of his mutant powers to save that. 3-2 Barcelona.
It was a goal not dissimilar to the one he scored to open the scoring against Espanyol. One hopes that he can keep these great cameos going, but any Culer who follows Barcelona knows not to celebrate too early because Olmo is many things, and inconsistent is at the very top of the list - in bold and in capital; also, in italics and underlined, highlighted too. (Heck, you only need to watch his performance against Real Sociedad to see why he is so frustrating).
After that third goal, Barcelona could finally relax and control the game…hahahaha…I am just kidding. The game after Barcelona’s third goal delved into chaos as Barcelona just seemed to forget how to play football and invited Praha to push for the equalizer. But then again, if you watch Barcelona, you know that when Pedri exits, so too does the head of this team. And thus, they then begin running around like a headless chicken, and that’s what happened.
But that would not stop Lewy from scoring the third when he reacted quickest to poke home the ball from a Rashford pass. 4-2 Barcelona.
But of course, Barcelona were not done trying to rip my heart out of my chest with a rusty meat cleaver because after that fourth goal, they still kept giving the ball away as the game drew to a close, playing the final ten minutes or so as though they wanted nothing to do with the game anymore. This was dangerous, as Praha had clearly done their homework and targeted Barcelona’s weakness excellently, even though that didn’t result in a goal.
Ultimately, Barcelona held on to win and move up to 9th in the Champions League standings with 13 points. A top eight finish now looks unlikely, at least from their own hands, because they need a loss/draw performance from any team from third to eighth to stand any chance of progressing. Of course, that’s if we take it for granted that Barcelona will win their match too.
But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Tonight, Barcelona made a mountain out of a molehill and still scaled it. That’s worth celebrating - I guess.
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