The Barca Breakdown discussed the victory at the 3-1 Camp Nou against Celta Vigo. With Busquets out on a yellow card, Nico and Pedri injured, Xavi decided to not start our only midfielder Puig. Instead he opted for a 4 man attacking front with Ferran, Aubameyang, Dembele, and Depay, leaving Frenkie and Gavi to cover the midfield. The line-up made Adam and Yusef nervous as not having Busquets was bad, but not having 3 midfielders sounded even worse. It is interesting to note even though this was a difficult situation, Xavi still didn't decide to start Puig. This must say something regarding Xavi's trust in the midfielder. Is it time for Puig to make his leave and gain experience elsewhere? Regardless, Barca started the first half a bit shaky as the team had to adjust with a missing midfielder. For the first 20 minutes Celta made some good attempts at goal, however they couldn't seem to finish. Once Barca adjusted, Dembele put on his jet engine boots and was flying around the pitch. He was able to drive down the right flank and dribble the ball into the right side of the box. He made a beautifully placed pass to the middle of the box where Depay was waiting. Depay shot immediately and scored the opening goal at 30'. Before the end of the first half Jordi Alba makes an over the top pass down to Depay on the left wing. Depay kicks the ball to the middle and the Celta defender is not able to control it. Aubameyang sneaks in and kicks the ball into the back of the net. Half time ends with Barca up 2-0. Barca continued to press in the second half. At the 48' Auba makes a pass to Dembele. Dembele runs down the right flank with Auba running through the middle. Dembele gets the ball back to Auba who one touches the ball to take a 3-0 lead. Not 2 minutes later, Ter Stegen makes a terrible pass to Araujo. It was intercepted and Celta Vigo scored. Celta dropped to 10 min due to a bad foul at the top of the box. Not soon after Araujo Clashes heads with Gavi and is on the floor for several minutes. Reports are he was concussed and is recovering now and will be good. The last notable comment is that Frenkie De Jong, Eric Garcia, and Jordi Alba will all miss the next game against Getafe due to yellow card accumulation. Barca Look to take on Getafe in Madrid this Sunday where Yusef and Adam will be live at the game! Forca Barca
The Barca Breakdown discussed the champions league season opener against Plzen with goals from Lewandowski and ...
The Barca Breakdown discussed the away victory against Sevilla. Coming into the game Barca had just come off a 4-0 win ...
The BarcaBreakdown discuss the final preseason game vs. New York Red Bulls, as goals from Ousmane Dembele and Memphis ...
The Barca Breakdown discussed Matchday 31 where FC Barcelona faced off against the near relegated Levante. Notable changes Xavi employed were Nico in for Pedri and Araujo for Pique. The first half began with an awful performance. It seemed Barca had lost the fundamentals with passing off the mark and the lack of an ability to open the pitch. This was also exacerbated with Levantes keen defense and great man marking. While the frustration of the first half was overwhelming, Barca were able to hold on to a 0-0 outcome with the help of Ter Stegen, Eric Garcia, and Araujo. Coming into the second half, Xavi didn't make any immediate subs and the chaos ensued. A penalty was called against Barca and Levante scored to take the lead. Xavi made a switch to the midfield and put in Pedri and Gavi. Immediately the game changes. Dembele crosses the ball into Aubameyang and the header goes in to equalize! Soon after Levante got a second penalty and Ter Stegen made a huge save. The young duo strike; Gavi is able to pass the ball into Pedri who takes a 1 touch shot and TAKES THE LEAD! Barca are up 1-2. Lenglet gets subbed in and fouls causing a 3rd penalty. Levante score and equalize. As a last chance sub, Xavi places in Traore and Luuk De Jong. In the 90' + 2 minute Alba crosses the ball into Luuk and a game winning header flies into the net! Barca are VICTORIOUS! The Breakdown look forward to the second leg against Frankfurt on Thursday!
The Barca Breakdown discussed the victory in the second leg of the Europa League against Napoli. In a wonderful performance, Barca seemed to have united in an international game looking for glory. Xavi deployed our January signings Torres, Aubameyang, and Traore in the attack. In the midfield, we had Busquets, Frenkie, and Pedri. Lastly our defensive backline, Alba, Pique, Aurajo, and Dest. The game began and Barca came out firing. An early counter from Aubameyang to Traore, Traore to Alba, and we had our opener. Barca seemed to have been reawakened. Frenkie placed a Messi-esque and effortless goal to take Barca up 0-2. Unfortunately Stegen made a bad call, and Napoli received and scored a Penalty. El Presidente, Pique wasn't having it. He took the game 1-3 before half time! Before the game's end, Aubameyang scored and Napoli capitalized on making it 2-4. The game ended while joy and Barce were through to the next round. The game was the beautiful football of Barcelona that we have all missed especially since Messi left. With the victories against Atletico, Valencia, and Napoli all ending with Barca scoring 4 goals, things seem to be working for Xavi's Barcelona. Although, there is still a lot to work on and we have a big game coming soon. The Europa League is far from over and La Liga is just heating up. Barca head into the weekend to play Athletic Bilbao on Sunday at the Camp Nou.
The Barca Breakdown discussed a narrowly won Barcelona performance against Deportivo Alaves. In the attacking front we saw Abde, Torres, and Luuk De Jong. Xavi started Frenkie De Jong in the midfield in place of Gavi (out due to red card against Granada) alongside Busquets and Pedri. And in the back we finally see the return of Dest with Araujo, Pique, and Jordi Alba. It's hard to imagine Barca playing in such a lethargic, slow, and utterly uninteresting game against the 19th team on the table. Yet a late goal by Frenkie was the highlight of the 90 minutes. Other than that moment, Barca performed like a bottom tier team against a team facing relegation. Xavi made incredibly late subs (first in the 71') when clearly his strategies on the pitch in the first 70' were not working whatsoever. The Breakdown questions how Xavi didn't implement changes to boost the energy of Barca (clearly the choice should have been Dembele). Of course Xavi started Alba, Busi, and Pique playing them another 90'. In two weeks Barca will play Atletico Madrid, who are 1 point ahead of Barca and played the same games. After the performance in the Copa Del Rey against Athletic Bilbao and Alaves, Barca have almost zero chance of winning that game to take 4th on the table. Please like, comment and subscribe to our channel! Twitter: https://twitter.com/BarcaBreakdown Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barcabreakdown Listen to our podcast on Spotify or Apple/Itunes Podcast. Please support the Barca Breakdown and subscribe to our channel and like our videos. Please let us know in the comments what type of content you want to see more of!
The BarcaBreakdown discuss the 2-2 draw vs. Osasuna in La Liga. Xavi's Barca unfortunately could not hold their lead after scoring both goals, leading to a late Osasuna goal. Gavi, Nico, and Balde continue to impress as the youngsters are performing much better than experienced plays like Pique, Alba, and Busquets. We continue to see worrying signs from Frenkie De Jong, who looks like he has lost his enjoyment of playing the game. Rumors are swirling that Ter Stegen and De Jong are no longer invincible from transfers, so it will be interesting if Xavi can help get Frenkie back on track. Unfortunately, with massive injuries to our front line, we had to start Luuk De Jong. Luuk once again showed that he is not able to play at the level Barca need him to. Please like, comment and subscribe to our channel! Twitter: https://twitter.com/BarcaBreakdown Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barcabreakdown Listen to our podcast on Spotify or Apple/Itunes Podcast. Please support the Barca Breakdown and subscribe to our channel and like our videos. Please let us know in the comments what type of content you want to see more of!