[Sport] Barça stalks Atlético with a period win at Anoeta

[SougarLord]

 

Perhaps it is time to stop observing Ronald Koeman as that populist and desperate resource of Josep Maria Bartomeu so that the little luster that remained of his Barcelona would not end up collapsing and begin to appreciate what he has done with the rubble that he received in inheritance. Because yes, at the center of everything is Leo Messi, since this Sunday the player who has worn the Barça shirt the most times (768), but everything built around him, based on trial and error, is increasingly appealing, It bears the signature of the Dutch technician.

 

The patient still has tics of yesteryear and specific threats of derailment -see the first leg against PSG, see the Super Cup-, but now everything makes sense again and until the future, precisely because at times, as against Real, it reminds of a past glorious that no one was counting on recovering. Not so soon. And Joan Laporta, re-released as president in the box at the Reale Arena, cannot help but smile.

 

In this context of sustained growth, the win against Real Sociedad, in one of the roughest outings that remained in its league calendar, underpins the harassment of Atlético for a championship that a couple of months ago seemed impossible. If not for Oblak, the margin of the colchoneros would already be only two points. It is still four, but nothing indicates that it is an irrecoverable difference for Barça. Not with games like last night, won with determination, clear ideas and, above all, good football. That old dynamic that already seemed buried in some dark corner of the Camp Nou.

 

THE UNEXPECTED BIGOLEADOR

The stick, very hard, was for a Real Sociedad that has two weeks to recover before its Cup final against Athletic. The donostiarras competed in a remarkable way during the first half hour, but after the first blow they collapsed, being at the mercy of the appetites of Barcelona in general and Dest in particular, the bigoleador that nobody expected. And Messi, always Messi, author of a goal and an assist to continue turning the historical into everyday life. And Dembélé.

And Griezmann. And Busquets. A happy arcade like the culé no longer remembered.

 

It took more than half an hour for the party to start, because Real, sheltered in a line of five defenders, took pains to annul Barcelona's options to approach Remiro's goal. He did it effectively and even scored a goal that would have changed everything. But what Ter Stegen spoiled, giving the ball away in a compromised area, Ter Stegen fixed it, stopping Isak, perhaps the best of San Sebastian in a night to forget.

 

The stability, at times monotonous, that presided over the game jumped into the air in the 37th minute. The play began with a center-kick from Dest that hit the crossbar and to which Remiro did not respond as he should. She continued the play on the other side until Alba sent her into the small area. Dembélé missed the first shot, but nobody knew what to prevent Griezmann from taking advantage of the second after the goalkeeper's rejection.

 

From then on, everything rushed hopelessly. Dest, after driving and an assistance of many carats from Messi, ended up blowing up the game. And before 10 minutes of the second half were completed, the victory had already turned into a landslide. First with Dest's second goal taking advantage of a pass from the baseline by Jordi Alba and then with Messi scoring a goal that he deserved, after a pass telegraphed by Busquets on the neck of the tremulous San Sebastian defense.

 

Dembélé scored the fifth after a first attempt canceled by a millimeter offside. Barrenetxea's precious goal already in the final quarter hour was merely cosmetic. Even more so when Messi, near the discount, crowned the monstrous Barça display with his second goal of a night that recalled those he achieved in his most golden era, the one that almost no one expected to see again, at least this season. Maybe Koeman does. There the merit of him.