At 1:30 a.m. Beijing time on January 9, the 20th round of La Liga ushered in a focus battle, with the traditional giants Barcelona playing the weak team Granada.
Before the game, Barca's new coach Xavi said, "I always look forward to competing with anyone. The only opponent who is stronger than us is Bayern, and we perform better against other opponents, even if we lose to Betis. Despite being 10 points behind Sevilla, we still performed better than them. ”
La Liga plays a relegation team-level team like Granada, and it is natural to say such a thing, but what if you don't play and win?
In the campaign, Barca started 433, Luke De Jong formed a forward trident with Yutgra and Dembele, midfielders Gavi, Busquets and Nico Gonzalez, and four defenders Alba, Eric Garcia, Pique and Alves.
Granada started 442, with Suarez and Molina forming a double striker.
In the opening 7th minute, Garvey crossed and Luke Derong's header was broken, but after VAR confirmed, Garvey was offside first and the goal was invalid. In the 16th minute, Yutgra's cross was met by Luke De Jong's shot high over the crossbar. In the 20th minute, Dembele sent a wonderful cross, Luke De Jong formed a single knife, not only failed to complete the shot, but also fell down.
Judging from the situation in the first half, Granada did not have enough strength to compete with Barca, but Barca's attack also lacked threat, Luke De Jong failed to play a level that would allow Barca to keep him, and Dembele's level was certainly far from matching the high salary he asked Barca.
In the 56th minute, Barca broke the deadlock on the pitch, Alves made a clever pass and Luke De Jong's header broke the goal.
Trailing behind, Granada stepped up their attack. In the 73rd and 74th minutes, veteran Alves completed key blocks in succession, destroying the opponent's attack.
In the 79th minute, the young player Garvey brought down Corrado, and two yellows turned red and were sent off.
Playing one less person, Barca's situation on the field fell into passivity, and the defensive problems were exposed. Towards the end of the match, Barca scored a deadlock with Granada. A corner kick in Granada, the corner kick was first bounced off Busquets, and then the unguarded Pultas kicked and the ball was scored! Although there are still a few minutes left in stoppage time, Barca are unable to return to heaven.
Granada's level in La Liga, that is, the relegation team, is not even a "dark horse", the overall strength is not necessarily stronger than the Spaniards played by Chinese striker Wu Lei, Barca was drawn by such a team, obviously not the level of a team that is "only weaker than Bayern".
With this draw, Barca finished 6th in the La Liga table with 32 points in 20 games, missing a good opportunity to reach the top three. If they win this game, they will accumulate 34 points to move up to third in the La Liga table.