In the semi-finals of the Western Super League, Barca pulled 2-2 after falling behind twice in regular time, and was eliminated by Valverde in the 8th minute of extra time, and finally lost 2-3 to the sworn enemy Real Madrid, unfortunately missing the final. With this defeat on the horizon, Barca have lost another title to compete for.
Before this game, Barca only ranked 5th in La Liga, 17 points behind the leaders Real Madrid, and there was a certain gap in strength between the two teams. However, Barca did not tie their hands, and although Vinicius and Benzema took the lead for Real Madrid twice, Luc De Jong and Fati broke out in adversity and stubbornly dragged Real Madrid into extra time.
In this game, Barça is not bad on the scene, and the possession rate is 53%-47%, the number of shots on goal is 20-14, and the two key statistics are ahead of Real Madrid, and most Barça fans are satisfied with being able to play like this.
After the game, Barca boss Xavi even believed that the team had suppressed Real Madrid most of the time and was absolutely qualified to reach the final. Pique said that Barca did not lose to Real Madrid, but lost to several counter-attacks.
As the saying goes, some people are happy and some are sad, and most of the people up and down Barca have performed well, but midfielder De Jong has been sleepwalking. He only touched the ball 26 times in the whole game, and the pass success rate reached 88%, but most of them were anglo-global, and the number of threatening passes was 0! What is even more exaggerated is that De Jong is like air on the defensive end, and was replaced by Harvey after only half a game.
The famous rating agency SofaScore also only gave De Jong 6.6 points, ranking first from the bottom among the 3 midfielders who started, and it can be said that there is no sense of existence at all.
The 24-year-old debuted at the famous star processing plant Ajax, and in the 18/19 season he reached the final four of the Champions League with the team, during which he beat Real Madrid 4-1 at the Bernabeu. De Jong was subsequently named the best midfielder in Europe and was ranked 11th on the Golden Globes list for the first time.
De Jong had a clear goal and he soon joined the giants, coming to Barca for 86 million euros. When he first arrived, De Jong shouted a bold word, saying that he would win 5-0 against Real Madrid in the national derby like his predecessors.
But the ideal is very full, and the reality is very bone. Since de Jong joined, he has played a total of 6 national derby games, with a record of 1 draw and 5 losses. What is even more heartbreaking is that Barca have been killed by Real Madrid for five consecutive years, setting the worst record in the same period since 1965.
In these matches, De Jong played mostly uneventfully, not only contributing 0 goals and 0 assists, but even being taught face-to-face by Modric many times.
Seeing De Jong play like this, many Real Madrid fans ridiculed and expected De Jong to stay in Barca, so that Real Madrid could continue to laugh at the national derby.