SougarLord Posted March 7, 2021 Posted March 7, 2021 It could happen that this footballingly and emotionally unstable Barcelona ended the season by winning the League. Who already knows what these pandemic times and the mediocrity in which Spanish football is being installed can bring. It could happen that nothing mattered, neither the institutional interim that will come to an end today, nor the temporary imprisonment of the person who left the chair empty, nor the failed summer frenzy of Leo Messi, nor the continuous injuries that Ronald Koeman saves as best he can. In that wire that has been drawing its own circumstances, Barça has discovered that it has a survival instinct that it never thought it had and sees itself two points away from Atlético, which it must demonstrate this afternoon against Real Madrid if it can to be Superman again or not. While the mattress makers think about it and the whites chew on their own miseries, Barça is making its way when no one was expecting it anymore, embracing its two great contemporary certainties, Marc-André Ter Stegen and Messi. Both were in El Sadar the supports of a correct Barcelona without more, away from the torrent shown days before against Sevilla. Those 120 minutes of effort were not free, Koeman will think, despite the fact that he only conceded the change of Antoine Griezmann for Ousmane Dembélé and the forced entry of Samuel Umtiti instead of the injured Gerard Piqué. Better tired players than residuals when no season on the calendar is avoidable, the Dutchman would think. He was right. The resistance of this revitalized Osasuna after a couple of months of anxiety that never questioned Jagoba Arrasate was valuable and the Navarrese team went to sleep with little or nothing to reproach themselves, perhaps the lack of edge of him. He did his job, but he ran into a huge Ter Stegen who took the few chances he had and with a Messi who once again took advantage of that special connection that he has cultivated for years with Jordi Alba. ONLY WITH SIDE CENTERS That was how the goal that paved the night for the Barça team was born. After half an hour into the game, the side drew a deep uncheck and the '10' broke Osasuna's defensive line with a parable that no one saw coming. Alba discovered himself only before Sergio Herrera and, although his position was heeled, he chose not to look for a new partner but to resolve with a violent shot that overwhelmed the red-and-white goalkeeper, without time or space to articulate a response. By then, Ter Stegen had already had to earn his salary against Kike Barja and shortly afterwards he did it again against Rubén García. Exceptions in a context of Barça territorial dominance, although always with little depth and fewer shots than advisable. Only in a short stretch of the second half did the Navarrese really threaten through lateral centers. As soon as Arrasate removed Jonathan Calleri, the danger disappeared. Domesticated again by the calm that Barça found in possession of the ball, Osasuna saw his comeback options erased with the first goal of Ilaix Moriba as a professional, with Messi again assisting. A powerful and precise left foot after a cutout in the front. There is a Barcelona footballer that has already added 16 league games without losing, eight consecutive away victories. More reason to believe that, why not, maybe I can still compete for this League of Fools.
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