In a riveting night of football, 10-man Barcelona drew 2-2 with Girona.
This Catalan derby was a lively contest that had the Blaugrana well on-top until a red card with 10 minutes left in the first half turned the night on its head. Girona came from 1-0 down to lead 1-2, before being pegged back to 2-2.
So, who were the winners and losers?
Winner
Cristhian Stuani
Cristhian Stuani was the best Uruguayan striker on the field at the Camp Nou and it wasn’t even close. Luis Suárez was actually better than he has been recently, but that meant he was merely competent, whilst Stuani was absolutely colossal for Girona.
The big Uruguayan embarrassed Piqué for the first goal, stealing ahead of him and nutmegging the onrushing Marc-André Ter Stegen.
If the first goal was an example of how smart and skilful Stuani can be, as he pulled the ball out of the air to get into space, the second was very much a reminder that he is a large, powerful man.
Portu’s shot had been superbly saved by Ter Stegen, but the ball fell to Stuani just inside the Barcelona box. The Uruguayan took measure and absolutely hammered the ball into the back of the net, giving his side a shock lead. That got pulled back to a draw, but the point is invaluable to Girona – and a brace against Barcelona for an ex-Espanyol striker? Priceless.
Loser
Clement Lenglet
Clement Lenglet is a really good defender, he proved this all of last season when playing with Sevilla. He fully deserved his move to Camp Nou and will probably be a quality squad player for the Blaugrana over the next few years.
But the poor guy’s Barcelona career has thus far consisted of getting nutmegged a whole bunch and now getting sent off. Did he purposefully elbow Pere Pons? Only he will know. It seems like a really weird thing to do given that he had already won the ball, but then that elbow swings around in a way that one wouldn’t describe as natural.
Still, it was a red and he walked, ruining the two-game warm-up he was going to get for the Spurs game in the Champions League. And that completely conditioned the game.
Winner
Real Madrid
Of course Los Blancos are major winners of this failure from Barcelona. It hasn’t changed things in terms of the standings, Barcelona are still top of the division due to their superior goal difference, but Julen Lopetegui’s Madrid are now level on points with the defending Champions.
That is huge, because Barça have very difficult games coming up against Athletic Club, Valencia and Sevilla. This draw now balances this out for Los Blancos who themselves have to face Sevilla and Atlético Madrid in the next two matchweeks.
Loser
Gerard Piqué
The Catalan provocateur has had a rough start to the season. He usually starts seasons slowly, but at 31 years of age, it’s now slower than ever. He’s had a few big moments, but largely Piqué has looked rusty as he recovers from his World Cup hangover. Today though, he looked positively decrepit as he all but single-handedly gave Girona their two goals.
First, he was standing blissfully unaware as a high ball came his way. He was stood in his box but seemed happy to just volley it away, never thinking to check behind him for professional nuisance Cristhian Stuani. Surprising no one except Piqué, Stuani stole in ahead of him and scored.
That’s pretty bad, but it got worse in the second half as a simple ball in behind put Piqué into a footrace with Portu, and that was only ever going to end one way.
As he watched Portu streak ahead of him, Piqu̩ decided to go to ground. He got nowhere near the ball and fouled Portu, but the striker saved his blushes (well, sort of) by getting up and shooting РTer Stegen appeared to have saved Piqu̩, but no luck as Stuani smashed home the rebound. A disasterclass from Piqu̩.
Also, he looks ridiculous without a beard. That should be noted.
No beards, no party. 🧔✖️ pic.twitter.com/z0H5OwUQ6P
— Squawka News (@SquawkaNews) September 23, 2018
Winner
Gerard Piqué
Football is a funny ol’ game, and Gerard Piqué was having a nightmarish game after gifting Girona two goals. But after that error, it was like someone turned a switch, and Piqué was instantly back in beastmode.
Suddenly he was making smart decisions, being in the right place at the right time, intercepting the ball well, all of that.
Moreover, he was pushing the tempo. Driving Barcelona forward with penetrative passes. He was looking for redemption, and when there was a loose ball flying into the air in Girona’s box, he found it. Piqué launched himself off the ground, hanging wonderfully in the air before thumping a spectacular header into the back of the net, drawing Barcelona level.
It’s also worth remembering that before his epic collapse, he did actually clear a shot off the line quite excellently. So all in all Piqué had a pretty balanced day, well, if you can call an equal measure of idiocy and brilliance balance, anyway.
Loser
Ernesto Valverde
It must be hard being Ernesto Valverde. People constantly compare your pretty amazing Barcelona side with epoch-marking all-time sides, thus making you and your achievements look like a bag of crabs.
It’s not fair, really, but then also Valverde is pretty crabby himself and kind of exacerbates a lot of the criticism he faces.
Today’s game was a microcosm of all that, really.
First, there was the red card which honestly could have gone either way; the only certain thing is his defender needlessly made a stupid movement. But still, the red card happened and Valverde then took things very easy with Samuel Umtiti, giving him an almost absurd 10 minutes to warm-up as Sergio Busquets dropped into centre-back.
This meant that, without Busquets to control the tempo, Girona took control of the game. This, in turn, led to them dominating those last 10 minutes and creating the chance that led to the equaliser. With Umtiti on the pitch, Busquets is in midfield and Bar̤a defend with possession as they always do Рthus that goal never happens.
But Valverde did wait, and Girona did score, and score again. Valverde’s subs had the desired effect, but even then one wonders what would have happened had he left the in-form Ousmane Dembélé on the pitch instead of the hapless tryhard Luis Suárez.
Basically, today the Blaugrana were handed a bag of crabs, but also had some pretty crabby decisions from their coach that probably cost them two points.
The post The major winners and losers from Barcelona 2-2 Girona in a feisty Catalan derby appeared first on Squawka News.
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