This Tuesday the FC Barcelona was looking to get his ticket to the round of 16 of the Champions League to release pressure and calmly play their two remaining group stage games; However the Shakhtar Donetsk spoiled their plans by defeating them 1-0 at the Volksparskstadium in Hamburg, Germany, and starring the surprise of matchday 4 of the European tournament by snatching the undefeated record from the culés.
For Barcelona the game was a nightmare, a failed exercise, a team without direction and that each party loses credibility. In Hamburg, a goal from the Ukrainian ‘9’ Sikan in the 40th minute was enough to close the game.
If after winning in injury time and with many doubts about his game in San Sebastián, Xavi Hernández’s justification was post-classic syndrome; In Hamburg the same dynamic was repeated.
There was no news from Barça during the first half, where he did not even finish between the three sticks. With flat football, without overflow and too predictable, the Blaugranas chased the orange shirts of the Ukrainians for too many minutes, against a team that was clear about what to play from the beginning.
Barça returned to its classic formation, a 4-3-3 with two full-backs and the centre-back pair formed by Araujo and Christensen, which was one of the best of the Catalans for many minutes.
In the average, Oriol Romeu once again looked very gray, Gündogan was not good at the wheel and Gavi offered little more than sacrifice. Upstairs, the trio of forwards went unnoticed for many minutes. No balls reached Lewandowski and the two wingers (Raphinha and Ferran) never overflowed.
So Mario Pusic’s men, except for a couple of hesitant actions, more a product of being consistent with their style of play, who, for another reason, gave up a couple of chances in the opening minutes, two more scares for trying to play the ball with risk from behind than due to the merits of Xavi’s.
And Barça did not emit signs of life. Neither pressure nor construction. In the first 45 minutes, the Blaugranas, except for two shots from outside the area, did not try again. Shakhtar warned a couple of times, always in twisted plays, building patiently.
After a quarter of an hour, Matviyenko beat Cancelo with a long ball and the culés were lucky that Ter Stegen, again the German goalkeeper, was attentive and aborted the clear chance for the Ukrainians.
Without any news from Barça, Shakhtar grew and in the best play of the game, they scored 1-0 in the 40th minute. It was in a collective action, 27 passes in one minute. The ball reached Sudakov, who passed it over Gocholeivshvili and the cross was finished off by Sikan who got ahead of the four defenders of Xavi’s team.
In the first minutes of the restart, the Blaugranas seemed better placed on the pitch, but again an error in concentration, this time by Marcos Alonso, allowed Gocholeivshvili (min. 48) to worry ter Stegen again, who was He shined again in the 57th minute, after a shot by Sikan, when Barcelona already had clearer ideas.
Xavi decided to shake up his team with four substitutions with half an hour remaining. He put Pedri, Joao Félix, Lamine Yamal and Balde into play for Oriol Romeu, Ferran Torres, Raphinha and Marcos Alonso.
And Barça changed its face and in the last twenty minutes, the Blaugrana locked the Ukrainians in their field, although without having clear chances, beyond hanging balls that did not generate danger for Riznyk.
Fermín came on for Gavi, but Barcelona still didn’t react. What’s more, in the 87th minute, Newertton, on a counterattack, scored 2-0, which was disallowed for offside.
The defeat does not complicate the European future of the Catalansbut yes generates more tension after they had gotten the classification on track very well with three victories in the first three games. Given the situation, the match in Montjuïc against Porto will be key for the development of the group.
*With information from EFE.
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