The FC Barcelona players did not take the draw against Betis well at all. The team took to the field with extra motivation due to Real Madrid’s defeat against Valencia, which opened the door for them to mark a distance of six points with respect to the “Blancos” (Whites), and in the end they had to settle for a more limited margin of four points.
The faces of the players on the field at the end of the clash were of disgust. The referee Gil Manzano also did not help with an irritable performance, although he had no direct influence on the result. The referee suffered in his flesh the frustration of players with a lot of pride like Raphinha, whom they had to separate to avoid greater evils.
Not even the first captain, Marc-André Ter Stegen, could calm a furious Raphinha on the way to the locker room tunnel. The last corner that the referee did not grant and the short added time, of only four minutes, were the reason for an anger with the pulsations at the top, although in reality the team was hurt by the result.
For example, Pau Cubarsí, a player very prudent in his statements usually, spoke that in the first half they had “lacked the desire to win.” Betis stood up with a brave style of play by Manuel Pellegrini, but the Barça players understood that they should have bitten much more in the first half, as they did in the second.
Set pieces
Natan’s strategy goal also hurt a lot. Gavi explained it: “It was totally avoidable, we worked a lot on the strategy to avoid these goals.” The Andalusian was the MVP and shone at a great height, although that was no consolation.
Ronald Araujo, second captain of the squad, was also not happy with the referee and spoke with the same tone of self-demand as his teammates: “You have to take care of all the details.” He himself was the one who lost the duel with Natan in the goal of the “Verdiblanco” (Green and White) tie.
“We have to fight against everything,” he added both for the arbitral issue and for the problems that Javier Tebas puts for the registration of Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor. Everything counts for the state of mind of a dressing room that wants to rebel with soccer against injustices.
The reality is that the “Barcelonista” (Barcelona) defense had difficulties in the first half, but they corrected them in the second. The loss of Iñigo Martínez weighed heavily both for his command from behind and for the exit he promotes from the left side. Cubarsí performs well in this position, although the right profile is more in line with his characteristics.
Iñigo Martínez must be recovered to play on Wednesday in the Champions League against Borussia Dortmund in Montjuïc. The changes were programmed thinking about this match, as Flick recognized with Pedri, De Jong and Ferran. Barça wants to leave the tie on track at home before traveling to a stadium that is a boiler with its famous yellow wall, as the Teutonic coach knows well.
