Match Review : Red Star Belgrade vs Barcelona (2-5)

Barca had a clear objective against Rel Star Belgrade.

Win and take home 3 more points.

The mission at hand looked relatively easy considering Barca’s current form, but they’ve already dropped a UCL match away from home to Monaco, and Red Star have a cooker of a stadium themselves.

So maybe some doubt was present.

Nonetheless, let’s see how Barca fared in their second to last match before the international break.

First half

The first half was a bit of a whirlwind for Barca.

On one hand, they controlled possession, looked to be the more threatening side by far, and were showing no signs of leakage defensively.

That’s why they opened the score via Iñigo Martinez. The Spanish veteran guided a beautiful free kick into the back of the net to open the scoring.

After this, Barca conceded one, and it wasn’t due to some team wide mishap defensively. In reality, the only reason this goal was scored was because Gerard Martin failed to keep the goal scorer from red Star onside.

Surprise? Not really, but what else can you do at that point, right?

Barca restored their lead before halftime though, as Robert Lewandowski poked a goal home to cap off the first half.

It was Raphina’s thunderous shot that pinged off the post, before falling into the wheelhouse of Lewandowski, giving him as easy of a goal you’ll ever see.

2-1 Barca and into halftime we went.

Barca looked sharp for the most part, with their only blemish being the clumsy goal given up due to Martin. Barca were creating chances consistently as well, which only signaled more action in the second half if they could keep their sharpness up/

Second half

That they did, as they netted 3 more goals in the second half to effectively kill off the match.

Robert Lewandowski tapped in another goal on another open net, as it was Jules Kounde who provided the opportunity for the Polish legend.

Kounde simply fired in an accurate, powerful ball across the face of goal and found Lewandowski, who was simply waiting for the pass to arrive.

3-1 Barca, but they didn’t stop there.

Raphinha got the goal he deserved, after he fired in a beautiful shot from distance and into the back of the net. You can only marvel at his ball striking and when you think about it, it’s hard to find any winger with better ball striking than him.

It’s a very useful facet of his game and one Barca can rely on more times than not.

After Raphinha’s goal, incoming sub Fermin Lopez added another after he went on one of his traditinoal box crashing runs, before softly putting the ball into the back of the net, giving Barca their 5th of the night and permanently killing off any hope for this Red Star side.

Red Star added another goal late, but it was a wonder goal and Barca couldn’t be too mad at it.

Either way, Barca won the match 5-2 and jumped up even further on the UCL table.

Final word

This match felt like an easy win, maybe because it truly was one with how dominant Barca looked throughout the match.

Good to see the front 3 continuing their scoring ways, also very good to see Fermin Lopez get a goal and boost his own confidence. Not that he needed the boost either way, but still a good goal from him.

Also, Gavi getting around 30+ minutes of playing time was very encouraging, he looked comfortable and you can only hope he continues to regain fitness and comfort as we move into December and January

Barca’s next match

Barca’s next match will be their last one before the international break, as they’ll take on Real Sociedad away from home this Sunday.

See you all then!