1. GOOD START AND END OF THE FIRST HALF
Barça started the game with great authority against a shrunken Red Star. Twenty minutes of good football orchestrated by Casadó and De Jong, leaving Pedri ahead to string together combinations in the final meters. For Raphinha and Lamine, good business. For Lewandowski, perfect.
With Milojevic’s eleven trying to form the great wall so that Flick’s men could not enter the area, the first surprise came from a set piece in the 13th minute: Raphinha curled the center with his left foot and Iñigo Martínez’s forehead reached the ball. Goal well directed towards the post that Ilic did not cover.
It seemed that almost the entire match was going to be played on the local field when the unexpected happened: Spajic and Djiga dared to take the defensive line from behind, they joined together with Krunic, Kanga and the rest of their teammates, forcing the Blaugrana to stop attacking. repeatedly. Result, disallowed goal and valid goal from Silas (fine chop against Iñaki Peña) to tie it in the 27th minute.
And here came the best of Barça in this first act, because the response was to control the game again, press as at the beginning and attack when Lamine Yamal, Pedri or Raphinha changed speed. Lewandowski solved the problem by catching a left-footed shot that was repelled by the post by the splendid Raphinha. To the locker room with the damage from the tie repaired.
2. ACCOMPANYING LEWANDOWSKI
In the second half, the Blaugranas devastated Red Star with another convincing performance. Unlike the first half, this time the goals ended the game.
Lewandowski himself made it 1-3, revering the hundred crosses that Koundé put in yesterday. Without a doubt, his best game since he arrived at Barça. Without time to look at the numerator, Raphinha arrived and broke the local team’s already low hope. The Brazilian ‘flies’ in this season’s games on the pitch and Pedri is a machine for generating elaborate and damaging football. The two play close to Lewandowski and that for the Polish scorer is like attacking the area with a knife, pistol and machine gun. Always from football verbiage.
Lamine wanted to come out with a goal but yesterday he had to settle for making historic goal passes. And here comes the good thing about this excellent player: he shows no signs of anxiety. As if he had played fourteen hundred games.
3. TIME FOR THE BENCH AND SCORE
The Barça superiority was so great that it was perfect for Flick to have so many minutes until the final whistle.
He brought players onto the field and the team did not lower its intensity or hunger to continue scoring. The fifth was signed by Fermín and although Red Star had one last whim, scoring 2-5 via Milson, the small Maracaná witnessed a spectacle of great football. How strong to see Olmo and the aforementioned Fermín also in Lewandowski territory.
Barça continues to climb positions but yesterday they won so comfortably that Flick already pointed towards Anoeta. In Europe there is also talk about this Barça.
