Happy Wednesday for Barcelona in Saudi Arabia. Hours after receiving the precautionary that will allow him to align Dani Olmo and Pau Victor, the Bara defeated the Athletic Club 2-0 and qualified for the final of the Spanish Super Cup.
The news, announced by the Higher Sports Council (CSD) with just over an hour to go before the start of the game, left no time left for both players to jump onto the pitch, but it was an injection of morale for a team that came from weeks of hardship on both the lawn and the offices.
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The team expects rival for the final on Sunday for the first title of the year, which will come out of Thursday’s duel between Real Madrid, the current league champion, and Mallorca, the current runner-up in the Cup.
Return with the Yamal goal
The euphoria team contrasted with an Athletic Club that faced the clash without its two main stars. Nico Williams was substituted as a precaution for ankle discomfort although he jumped in the second half, and Oihan Sancet was also injured in the ankle.
Its president Jon Uriarte had shown before the game his dissatisfaction with the decision of the CSD, a situation he described as hopeful.
With that background, it was not surprising that it was Hansi Flick’s men who started with one more point of spark and put themselves ahead on the scoreboard.
They had warned with a high finish from Raphinha to center from the right of Kounde (4) and with a foul pitch from the Brazilian captain himself to whom Unai Simon replied (9).
But the third was the vanquished. A good combination of the blue team – of phosphorus green on Wednesday – led to a pass behind Alex Balde that finished first with the left Gavi and the ball passed between the legs of the Spanish international archer.
The Athletic, current Cup champion, co-leader of the Europa League, and only two points behind the Bara in Liga suffered from his usual intensity, which had led him not to lose a match since 6 October (Girona).
A colossal intervention by Simon in a hand-to-hand with Raphinha (23) avoided the second.
Even so, the Bara lifted the foot of the accelerator and the Basques took a step forward reflecting on the occasions of Inaki Williams and Guruzeta (45-1) in the final stretch of the first half.
Two goals were canceled by the Athletic
The second half started unchanged, but Athletic had a hard time getting out with the ball played. From a red-white loss and recovery of the former Athletic Inigo Martinez arrived 2-0, the work of Lamine Yamal. Enabled by a pass from Gavi on the back of the defense, the 17-year-old end did not forgive in the match in which he reappeared after falling injured from the ankle in December.
It was the “de facto” sentence of a less electric match than the previous commitments between the two teams.
Valverde gave entry to the desperate one to Nico Williams, who had time to filter a pass to De Marcos for the veteran captain to kick the ball to beat Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, although the goal was canceled out of play.
Nor did he get on the scoreboard for the same reason an Inaki Williams goal two minutes from the end.
With a month of January loaded with games in Liga, Copa del Rey, Europa League, and Champions, neither team seemed to be wasting more energy than necessary.
