Barcelona’s lead melted away in a moment that was not decisive but important at the time. And it confirms, now apparently, a decline in the game that started two weeks ago, when they narrowly defeated Celta (3-2) in Montjuïc.
From there, they didn’t go beyond a draw with Mallorca; they beat Sevilla with a lot of suffering and even more luck with Porto. And they got knocked out by Granada. They could lose (they were 2-0 down at halftime), they almost won (a controversial goal was disallowed for Joao Félix in stoppage time), and they ended up tied with a two-part game, with a sorry first half and an inadequate second. And without forgetting that Bryan Zaragoza, the scorer of two local goals, managed to score the third after 2-2, avoiding the goal.
Barça stumbled into a tie that could not be imagined a priori as somewhere between miraculous and disappointing in the end because the opponent has accumulated five days without a win, adding only two of the last 15 points at stake and placing in It should be a logical opponent that will not cause problems so that they can score three points and regain their feelings.
Feelings? The worst can be feared by the champion at this point in time, whose image has fallen like a house of cards and appears unable to show any sign of superiority against the opponent in front of him.
If, moreover, he conceded a cold goal, the record in his history in 17 seconds, he would forget any plan he might have had in mind and was already playing against the clock as well as against any sign of calm down. Champion for its defensive strength last season, Xavi’s team conceded 10 goals in the first nine matchdays, a figure that was not reached last year until matchday 31. And, another fact: they conceded two goals in 29 minutes, showing unprecedented defensive fragility. And the stick, in extra time, after equalizing, prevented the disappointment from turning into a complete collapse.
For weeks now, Barça has lost its freshness, and its goals have gone nowhere. With the absence of Frenkie de Jong due to injury, the logic is lost in a midfield where the nerves of Gavi are barely visible, not enough to dominate the wide zone, and who are grateful for the entry in the second half of Sergi Roberto, who finally scored the goal that avoided the debacle… Although it did not hide the disappointment, Three days after the presidency, Barça is third, three points behind Real Madrid, and two dates away from hosting them at Montjuïc in a Clásico that, suddenly, has reached an unexpected dimension at this point in time. Because no one would expect that the champion could suffer a football disaster with these characteristics in a clear way.
