A dream evening for FC Barcelona. A week after his trip to Valencia (1-4) and three days after his convincing qualification for the knockout stages of the Europa League against Naples (2-4), the Catalans clearly dominated a small team from Bilbao at Camp Nou ( 4-0). With in particular the thunderous entry of Ousmane Dembélé, scorer and decisive double passer, Xavi’s men chained and returned, with one game less, up to Atlético de Madrid in 4th place in La Liga.
It hasn’t been their hardest win to come by, but the Catalans have confirmed that in recent weeks they have been going from strength to strength. Long behind in the league, they are more than ever in the fight for a qualification in the Champions League. Gérard Piqué’s partners were able to take full advantage of a Basque team which already had the lead in its King’s Cup semi-final return against Valencia on Wednesday, to build confidence.
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The Leones coach, Marcelino, had thus put the Williams brothers or Iker Muniain on the bench at kick-off. And his team tried as much as possible to break the rhythm, contenting themselves, apart from a few ball outings (23rd, 28th), to defend. On the heels of their previous performance, the Blaugrana managed some classy moves, like this huge opportunity wasted by Gavi (18th). But the Barcelonans struggled to find the fault, Ferran Torres being in check against Unai Simon (32nd).
They therefore relied on a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in great shape, author of his fifth goal in three matches after a header from Pique, from a corner, pushed back by the bar (1-0, 37th). Then in the second half, while they remained within reach of their opponents, the Catalans took advantage of the entry of Dembélé (67th) to make the difference. Served on the left side, the 2018 world champion first fired a huge shot at the near post to deceive the opposing goalkeeper (2-0, 73rd).
Then, the former Stade Rennais player took advantage of a Pedri festival to get the ball on the right side, and deliver a perfect cross towards Luuk De Jong, who scored with a header from close range (3-0, 90th) . Returning to the field after more than a month of absence due to injury, Memphis Depay finally appeared in the area on a new cross from Dembélé in order to participate in the celebration (4-0, 90th + 3). Delighted by this new festival, the Barcelona clan will want to continue against Elche next weekend.
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