"Barcelona and Girona took to the field in the season's first Catalan derby on Saturday afternoon and the game was far closer than was expected. While Hansi Flick's men were indeed coming off a two-defeat streak, Girona were seen as an opponent they could comfortably get past given their disastrous form this season. The visitors, however, exposed Barcelona's high defensive line repeatedly and were unlucky not to have gone ahead after equalising the hosts' Pedri-gifted lead."
"Wojciech Szczesny: 7 The veteran goalkeeper was often left abandoned by the dysfunctional defence to fend off Girona's lethal counterattacks on his own. While several were luckily off target, he did pull off some good saves to keep the team in the game. Alejandro Balde: 6 The left-back pushed up high in attack and combined well with Marcus Rashford on the flank, although he was left chasing in defence on multiple occasions. Looked reasonably sharp in possession but was still lacking the final product."
Barcelona and Girona played a closer-than-expected Catalan derby, with Girona repeatedly exposing Barcelona's high defensive line and creating the better opportunities. The hosts went ahead from a Pedri-gifted goal before Girona levelled, and both teams fashioned chances without finding the net until extra-time. Barcelona's defence looked dysfunctional and struggled to handle Girona's counterattacks, forcing goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny into several important saves. Alejandro Balde pushed high and combined well in attack but was often caught chasing defensively. Eric Garcia and Pau Cubarsi showed passing ability yet were vulnerable to counters and balls over the top.
Read at Barca Universal
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]