Barca win again, after a tough game in the ‘Catalan Derbi’. The Girona – Barca game finished with a 2-0 away win. However, some important talking points should be discussed after the game. Here’s the post match report by @tikitaka.dna.
Girona – Barca 0-2
We thought this was gonna be a exciting match with alot of goals. However, unfortunately it wasn’t like that. In the first half, Barca went into the game with the 4-3-3 formation and the home team went into the game with the 3-5-2 formation. But soon, both teams started to play “the game of midfield”.
Whats the game of midfield? The game of midfield is whoever controls the midfield controls the game. Both teams started using various formations such as 4-3-3, 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1 and 3-5-2 with change/reverse in the numbers.
During the first half, Sacristán’s men were more successful. They had more possession and more chances to score than us. However, their scoring attempts were denied by our solid defense. The Girona players pressed high, increased the intensity of the game and made it difficult for the blaugrana’s to keep the ball.
After Semedo’s goal however, Barca started to look more organized with Messi dropping deep to add creativity and building the game from back. Barca dominated during majority of the first half and it wasn’t our half.
In the second half, the game opened up more, Barca had more of the ball than in first half and had more accuracy in their passes. Girona were in search of a goal until playing it dirty cost them a men and Bernardo left with a red card 51′ after a foul on suarez.
After Girona went down to 10 men
Therefore, things started to look different. The 10 men Girona were under constant pressure & threats from Barca. In addition, Girona failed to mark Alba and a quick play between Suarez, Alba and Messi lead to a beautiful chip goal by Messi for the second of the night.
After the second goal, Valverde made few changes. One of those changes were Arthur in for Vidal. With Arthur’s arrival came stability, ball circulation became more fluid all over the pitch. However, Girona’s high pressure didn’t affect the blaugrana’s as much. In my opinion, Arthur should be a untouchable starter. We just play better football with him on the pitch. In addition, He clearly represents Xavi. The team played better in the second half than in the first half.
Overall, average & inconsistent performance. Alot of improvements need to be made. Now lets focus on a Remontada in the copa!
