FC Barcelona

What a game at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium!!!! After the international break, club competition returned to its normal phase. In the Spanish League, one of the most attractive games took place on November 24 at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium. The home side, Atletico de Madrid faced Barcelona with an incredible atmosphere by the local fans. It was a very physical game because both teams are top teams in the Spanish League and both are hoping to win the title at the end of the season.  The first half of the game went scoreless as the home side couldn’t finish the chances that they created. Barcelona couldn’t find their key players like Messi to finish the plays. It was a tough game for both sides as they battle through the first half trying to find the breakthrough. Atletico de Madrid is always a challenge for Barcelona because of the quality of their players and their good coaching staff commanded by Diego Simeone. And, playing at their stadium was even more difficult f...

What a bad day for Barcelona at the Camp Nou! With the return of their star player Lionel Messi from injury, the fans were expecting a positive result at their home. However, Real Betis came in with the mentality to beat Barcelona at their home. Unfortunately for Barcelona and their fans, it was a bad day due to the negative result at the end. Real Betis got the victory 4-3 at the Camp Nou over Barcelona. Betis played a great first half scoring two of their goals to upset Barcelona. The first goal was scored by Junior Firpo in the 20 th minute of the game with a counter-attack run making it past the goalie. And the second goal before halftime was scored by Joaquin 34 th minute of the game. He found himself alone in the box by the penalty spot and just tapped in to make it 2-0 in the first half. In the second half of the game, Barcelona came into the field with a different mentality. They started pressuring up high the field and creating chances of goal. In the 68 th min...

The Champions League As part of their European competition, Barcelona faced Inter de Milan on November 06 at their stadium. The surprise was that their star player Lionel Messi was part of the group that traveled to play this game. But, since he was still injured, he didn’t play. Playing in Italy has always been a struggle for FC Barcelona because Italian teams are tough at their home with their fans chanting the whole game. They pass the ball around hiding it from the Barcelona players. The Italian style of playing has always gotten Barcelona in a struggle to beat them. Even in this game, although the result ended in a 1-1 draw, Barcelona couldn’t keep the lead until the end the game. Barcelona had the possession of the ball throughout the whole game creating chances of goals. Suarez, Rakitic, and Coutinho had good chances of scoring in the first and second half but couldn’t capitalize the goal. It had to be a player coming out from the bench that scored the away goal for...

Tough Test! A tough matchup for FC Barcelona on November 3rd as they faced Rayo Vallecano at their home. Barcelona encountered a challenging game because the home team played well and fought until the end. An early goal scored by Luis Suarez to give Barca the lead and the possession of the ball throughout the first half. That goal gave them confidence to control the home team attacking players. However, in 35th minute of the game, Jose Angel Pozo with a long-range shot from outside the box scored the equalizer.  With the game tied at halftime, Ernesto Valverde wasn't finding the breakthrough the home side's defense. In the second half, Rayo Vallecano took the lead at the 57th minute in the game. The goal was scored by Alvaro Garcia after a fortunate ball came off the post leaving him with an open net just to tap it in the goal. After this goal, Barcelona's winning streak in the league seemed to come to an end. But, the game is not over until it's over.  In the 87...

Win, win, win! As part of the round of 32 in the Spanish Cup, FC Barcelona had to travel the northwest in Spain to take on the second division team Cultural Leonesa. For this match, Ernesto Valverde rested most of the first team to give other players in the bench playing time as well as some players from the second team. Players like Jorge Cuenca, Chumi, and Miranda made their debut with the first team. Valverde is known to be a coach that likes to give the opportunity to young players for their development. In terms of the match, the team that Valverde put into the pitch was a combination of young players with players that don’t have much playing time. As a result, it was reflected in the pitch and in the overall score. The team couldn’t finish the plays they created, and they weren’t finding chemistry between them. The inexperienced team couldn’t find their style of playing because they don’t usually play together. The final score of the game was 1-0 with a header in the 9...