Match Points : Athletic Bilbao knock Barcelona out of the Cup

The match last night was one of the most frustrating matches I’ve seen in a while. Not only did Athletic Bilbao beat Barcelona, the injury of Ansu Fati made things much worse for us. Honestly, after the injury of Ansu, I couldn’t really concentrate in the match. Most chances are we will be trophy less this season, as I can’t see us winning the Europa League. We just have to clean everything up and build on the young talents. We all know it will take time.

Let’s go over the different points after the loss of FC Barcelona in Bilbao. We’ll start with the bad things.

Bad Points

• Not the best game to use all three “veteran” defenders. We lacked pace, and it was very easy to witness that. The worse was Jordi Alba, who couldn’t cope with Nico Williams’ speed. The left back can’t be our only left back. And considering how Xavi doesn’t trust Dest and doesn’t see Badle ready – it makes sense to look for a new one.
• San Mamés is always a tough place to play at. But yesterday, the ‘lions’ from Bilbao totally dominated the game. Moreover, it looked like the team played in a much different way than what they wanted.
• The injury of Ansu Fati was the biggest blow possible yesterday. Seeing him walking out of the field crying, I couldn’t care about the rest of the game. Latest reports are talking about another 1.5-2 months out. So sad for him. I really hope that he will come back stronger.

• With the loss against Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona are now out of 2 trophies in the last week. In the next match vs Alaves, Xavi will have to pick up the players and lead them for the win. No other choice.

Good Points

• First goal for Ferran Torres was great news for us. He took the ball and fired it in, something that we lack this season. Hopefully, we’ll see a lot more from him in the next mathces.
• Pedri is back, and it was great to watch. Not only did he score the last minute equalizer- overall he was our best midfielder last night.

Marco