In the last matches, Barcelona were lucky to own their nets on penalties. In Spain’s championship game against Levante on April 10, the Catalans were given three 11-metre kicks to their doors. Only two were able to spot their opponents, Xavi’s guards in turn scored three goals and won, but were unable to repeat a similar scenario in the Europa League.
The match against Eintracht started off quite jolly – in the third minute, Catalan defender Eric Garcia put Jesper Lindström on the turf in the penalty area and was shown a yellow card and a penalty was awarded to Marc-Andre ter Stegen. It was applied by Filip Kostic, who caused a sensation at the Camp Nou.
Barcelona rushed to win back – both teams needed only one victory to advance to the next stage, the teams’ first meeting ended in a 1:1 draw.
In the face of dangerous moments, the Catalans could not score, but Eintracht succeeded in the 36th minute. Kostic was able to shoot himself, but was a little late and missed the moment, but passed the pass to Rafael Borre, who struck Ter Stegen with a powerful 20m blow. At the end of the first half, Barcelona was “burning” with a score of 0:2, and the stands were driving their opponent forward – a large number of German fans suddenly appeared in the Spanish stadium – only 20 thousand fans filled the guest sector, but also settled in the central stands. This boost gave Eintracht even more strength, with the team scoring the third goal in the 67th minute – Kostic, who shot low from under the far post before the goalkeeper had a chance, recorded a brace.
Barcelona started scoring goals just ten minutes before the end of regular time. However, the first attempt was unsuccessful – Sergio Busquets hit the Eintracht gate after Frenkie de Jong’s pass, but the video assistant referee system (VAR) intervened and the goal was canceled due to offside. In the 90+1 minute, Busquets nevertheless scored and brought the score to 1:3, the referee awarded Eintracht a penalty in the tenth minute of the pause and the penalty kick was turned by Memphis Depay. However, these last-minute efforts were not enough: the match ended with a score of 3:2 in favor of the German team, which advanced to the semi-finals of the Europa League.
In the last eight European matches, Barcelona managed to score only one victory over Dynamo Kyiv with a score of 1: 0, three draws and four losses were also recorded. It is noteworthy that before this, the blue garnet did not lose in the European competition of 38 matches at the Camp Nou, 34 of which ended in the victory of the Catalans.
Barcelona head coach Xavi admitted after the match that he did not see the match as a failure, and noted that such a result is a punishment for mistakes made on the pitch.
“Our heroic play was not enough. First they scored from the penalty spot, then a fantastic shot. We had ball control, but you have to pay for mistakes in the Europa League. Now we will focus on the Spanish championship. We did our best and we don’t see this game as a failure. I consider this a huge disappointment, but the main goal is to get into the Champions League, ”says Marca from an expert.
The real scandal of the match was the number of fans. Before the match, German media reported that 30,000 fans came to support the team in Barcelona.
As a result, there were ten thousand fewer Eintracht fans in the stands, but this could not affect Barcelona. Speaking about this event, Xavi noted that the club understands how it happened.
“Obviously the home atmosphere didn’t help us and the club are investigating why that happened. It’s a mistake in planning and calculations. Players also want to know what happened. This shouldn’t be allowed when playing at home. It’s a clear miscalculation on our part. It’s more like the stadium is split between clubs. “It was like a final. However, the atmosphere is no excuse. The problems are purely football. We made a lot of mistakes,” he said.
Eintracht midfielder Sebastian Rode spoke about the influence and support of the stands and acknowledged that so many fans also played a role in the final result.
“I’m incredibly happy. We played a great game today. They had goosebumps when they saw their fans during the warm-up. 10 years ago we played in the second Bundesliga and now we are in the Europa League semi-finals for the second time. We tried to cover every opponent with a few players whenever possible. From the defense We tried to go on the offensive quickly,” says Rode, the UEFA press service.
In response, the head of the Spanish club, Joan Laporta, promised to investigate what happened, because she considers it a shame that such a large number of rival fans at home.
“We are concerned about the embarrassment experienced today. This cannot be repeated. We have almost all the information on how it happened. “We need time to process this information and take appropriate action,” said the head of the Catalan club.
Former Dynamo Moscow football player and former coach of Ufa, Igor Kolyvanov, in a comment to socialbites.ca, explained what the defeat of Barcelona was connected with and noted that before the match the team was confident in beating Eintracht, this played a negative role. in the match.
“The start was terrible. It was clear that Eintracht came into the game with great enthusiasm, from the first minutes they showed that they were physically good. In the second minute, Barcelona made a very stupid mistake – the back of the striker is in the box, the high ball is going. Just fight with your head and it is in the fight. grab it with both hands, grab your shirt and throw it on the ground.
There was no team play, the ball was not holding well. But we must respect Eintracht, who played fearlessly throughout the match, constantly attacking the opponent, very good, very competent, carefully defending.
Barcelona had a few chances, yes, but after the first game they believed that they would beat Eintracht without a proper attitude and also 15 more games they didn’t lose, which hasn’t happened for a long time. But you have to understand that this is already a fight for the Europa League semi-final ticket. German fans also came, there was a huge support of 30 thousand. He played poorly in Barcelona, from the first minutes he began to lose the ball, to work with it carelessly. One error after another. This caused the German team to be stronger in some sections. It’s a stylish second ball that they throw with a crazy blow. The Catalans were unable to regroup throughout the match, everyone hoped Barcelona would add them soon, but there was nothing to add. There is no such thing before when the team can give up and score the next goal. Plus, his performance skills are ahead – yes, there were moments, but they didn’t pass there, they made a mistake there, ”the actor said.
Kolyvanov also shared his views on the number of fans, emphasizing that such support for the German club in the Spanish stadium could play a role, but it should not become a determining factor for professional footballers.
“It’s out of tune and the crazy support from the fans was a surprise [«Айнтрахта»]. Usually there is a sector of five to seven percent, sometimes ten percent, in the stadium, where there are almost half the fans in white jerseys. It may affect, but in any case, you are a professional, you go to the game and you have to play. Let’s not forget that Barcelona never won the Europa League, they lost all the matches when they played in the semi-finals four times. “I won’t say it was bad luck, but it’s a fact,” he said.
The former football player praised the current head coach of the Catalans, Xavi, for the staged game and talked about the team’s shortcomings to win the trophy.
“Javi needs to be given credit. There is team play, it won’t win yesterday’s game, but the team already has a face. Yes, maybe there are not as many bright stars as in other clubs, but quietly staged combined football, football that fans love. But you need big stars to win trophies. Like in Liverpool, like in Manchester clubs, like in Bayern. Although the German team also lost to Villarreal, they played the second match with an overwhelming advantage, but eventually agreed and were eliminated from the Champions League. In any case, Barcelona will have a face – there are good young people going forward. It is clear that it is not easy to play with Atletico and Real Madrid, but Barcelona can have a great rivalry. The team is not bad, playing very well in the moments, but lacking in completion. Same Suarez, I’m not talking about Messi when he was an actor. There are young people, but they are still green, he concluded.