Barcelona are arguably one of the best clubs in the world, but for the last few years, their dominance at European level and after the last season, at the Spanish top flight, seemed questionable as they have been struggling to triumph the Champions League and also the La Liga. But now, with the new and accomplished coach Ronald Koeman, and the coming of Young and skilful players and their performance against Girona , it seems as if the hard times have finally come to an end for the club.
On the 16th of september, Barca hosted Girona FC in their second pre season friendly at the Johan Cruyff Stadium. Barca’s first pre season against Nastic, which was the first game for Koeman as the head coach of Barcelona. Which saw them winning by three goals to one, but the performance wasn’t as virtuous as expected.
The quality and the connection between the players was somewhat was missing . But the situation of this game was absolutely contrast as the players had that connection between them. Also the players were fit both mentally and physically.
As the game started, Barca had most of the possession on the ball and we’re steadily moving forward with the ball rather than rushing towards the goal. The first genuine chance of the game came for Barca, when Cautinho’s shot took a big deflection and struck the crossbar.
But the Brazilian scored just a few minutes later, when Messi beautifully dribbled the ball past two Girona defenders and gave the ball to Trincão on the flanks, who passed it towards Cautinho who scored a simple goal, giving Barca the lead.
Then, in the 45th minute, Cautinho passed the ball towards Messi, who dribbled past the lone defender around him and created space for himself and then through his weaker foot, scored an absolute thunderbolt and made the scoreline 2-0 just before half time.
Later, as the 2nd half started, in the 46th minute, Girona made a move towards the goal, which ended in Saiz scoring and Barca conceding a goal. The main reason behind barca conceding the goal was the defence, which didn’t position itself in the right manner and was dispersed.
After that, in the 51st minute, Barca retained its two goal cousion, when Messi again found the back of the net, but this time courtesy of a big deflection, which took the ball away from Carlos.
After that Barca substituted 9 of its players, leaving only Araujo and Neto the players, who featured in the starting 11. After the mass substitution, Barcelona managed to create some great chances on goal, with the likes of Dembele and Pedri, but none of them got converted in a goal.
Thus the match ended with a 3-1 scorline . The scorline was the same as that of the game against Nastic. But Barca’s approach towards this game and their intent, was the reason why Barca’s performance in this match was much better.
Some of Barca’s players in this game, were absolutely at the peak of their performance. This included the great Leo Messi, the new signing Trincão, who was absolutely sensational and also his connection with Messi in the pitch was commendable. Ronald Araujo , who was great with his defensive duties and his positioning and speed, also impressed the coach a lot.
Even though Barca’s defense needs to improve and find it’s stability back . All in all, Barca seem to be ready approaching the new season with sheer determination and great intent towards a common goal, that is to show everyone that Barca is back
