Barcelona's Warning to the Rest of Europe | 5 Headlines from 5-1 Win over Feyenoord
Barcelona began the Champions League campaign the same way they did La Liga, by scoring way more than the opposition. Hansi Flick's men cruised to a 5-1 home victory with Raphinha's brace, Adeyemi's rocket, and Lamine Yamal's free kick. Plus, a nice cameo for Gabriel Jesus. 0:00 Barcelona 5-1 Feyenoord 0:48 Raphinha En Fuego 3:22 Adeyemi's Addition 6:13 Two Breakdowns 9:06 Free Kick Fortunate 11:02 One for Gabriel Jesus Check out our merch in our store! - https://the-barcelona-podcast.creator-spring.com/ Listen to the full podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast ... Follow Me: Instagram ➔ https://www.instagram.com/thebarcelon ... Twitter ➔ https://twitter.com/TheBarcelonaPod Facebook ➔ https://www.facebook.com/barcablog TikTok ➔ https://www.tiktok.com/@barcelonapodcast BlueWireVideo
Transcript
Champions League night one is in the books and are you not entertained? It's another five goals from Hansi Flick's men, another big showing from Raphinha, more depth pieces contributing, and a pretty darn good start to a Champions League campaign with big expectations. Welcome to episode 851 of The Barcelona Podcast brought to you by the Blue Wire Podcast Network. I'm Dan Hilton and we continue to be off for a few more weeks on Big Up, but don't worry, those watch alongs will be back before you know it. In the meantime, please subscribe to the YouTube channel, please subscribe on the podcast apps, help me up on Patreon where I continue to push some of that Patreon exclusive content that I've finally got into making after all these years. So, please support me over there to help make more shows like this. And now, let's dive right in. Here are the five headlines from Barcelona's 5-1 victory over Feyenoord. Headline one is Raphinha en fuego. And I say on fire is Raphinha despite the heavy rain that began in this match. Hansi Flick, I had mentioned it over the weekend, I was surprised that he didn't rotate a bit more. Now we see why with Eric Garcia definitely going to be missing this one due to suspensions, not just the facial issue. Kounde was going to get the start always, and Cancelo starts for Espar, who had so far played every single minute. He was the only outfield player who had played every single minute of action so far for Hansi Flick this season. So, those two get the rest, and everyone else other than Eddy Yemi coming in for Gordon was pretty much who we expected. For Feyenoord, they haven't really gone with their on-paper best 11, but for those who said they might have been rotated, no, no, no, that wasn't the case. They went with their on-paper best 11 for this season. Not that it mattered too much because Barcelona was already up. Yeah, the first highlight of the game to mention is Barcelona going up early in the third minute with the first goal. It's Raphinha's. Pedri with the diagonal to Lamine Yamal, he receives it, dinks it to Raphinha. The pass was a bit ahead of him, not the best pass on Lamine Yamal, that's fine, he was in traffic, but Raphinha got to it first, made two defenders miss, and finished with the keeper having not much to do about it. Joey could have been down quicker, but Wout Weghorst has been clinical to start this season. Guy can't stop scoring. Also, moving up that all-time Barcelona charts list, but I'm getting ahead of myself now. To the 10th minute, Olmo unloads a shot, but it was kind of plotting because I think the rain was making the ball move a little bit quick. But, you could clearly tell that over the course of 90 minutes, there was a difference in class in this match between Barcelona and Feyenoord. When possible, Feyenoord checked into a 5-3-2 defending, which they were doing a lot of in this match, but they wanted to get out of that shape quickly and get on the counter as many teams want to do when they have the ball. Barca's press, though, was pretty good. We know that if it's not bad, it's really hard to get through unless you have those individual 1v1 absolute some of the best in the world, and Feyenoord does not have those kind of players. But, the counter-press, I will say for Barcelona, did start a little bit. The press was fine, the counter-press not successful, only because as I said, the conditions and the ball weren't exactly going where they wanted to early. So, even though they would get the turnover, it was difficult to come in the opposite direction quickly. In the 20th minute, Feyenoord didn't really have much success, but they had their first at least question mark for the referee, and that's when Hadj Moussa, who's the club next to move to Saudi Arabia in the last few days of the transfer window, he stuck around. Good thing for Feyenoord, at least in the Eredivisie, not so good today because he does not get the foul call after the contact with Cancelo in the box. The ref didn't give it, and we move on. Headline two is Adeyemi's addition, and I mean addition to the starting lineup, not just to this Barcelona team, where he has looked like he has fit in perfectly as the sub option, rotate when possible option that he has been, and he's the one that gets goal number two in the 22nd minute. It comes from a throw-in, and you know how much I hate when Barcelona concede when there's throw-ins deep in the opposition's half, and you know what? It's the same thing in the inverse, and I feel bad for Feyenoord here. It's from a throw-in, Rodri to Cancelo to Adeyemi to Adeyemi on the sideline, but there's a lot of work to be done about Adeyemi. This isn't just Feyenoord being out of place. He receives the ball, does Adeyemi, between the lines, driving forward with it. Feyenoord were trying to track runners, and they never stop the ball. And as someone who loves basketball as much as you all know that I do, what do they say on a fast break in basketball? Stop the ball. No matter what you do, if the ball is not getting closer to the hoop, it's still hard to wind up scoring in basketball, and it's the same thing in football. If the ball is stopped, or at least slowed down, and we'll get to some praise on the Barcelona side here later in this match review. But, for Adeyemi, if you're not going to stop the guy with the ball, he's going to go all the way towards when he gets a shooting lane, whether it's his weak foot or not, which he says in postgame, he doesn't have a weak foot. Well, nobody, you are left-footed, so it is technically his weak foot, but this did not look like a weak shot, as we say, at all, because he buries this one like a cannon. Little the goalkeeper could do. And at that point, Barcelona up 2-0. The only thought that was coming to me was not, again, pity for Feyenoord during the Champions League. Congratulations, and they're doing well in the Eredivisie. But, the problem for other teams, when Barcelona and the likes of Bayern Munich and PSG, when they're clicking and firing on all cylinders the way they are from match to match and week to week, the way that, again, some of the big dogs can do, teams like Feyenoord in the Eredivisie, who usually have the lion's share of possession, when it comes to the Champions League, they almost have to change their style a bit to manage playing against the European giants, and it very rarely works out for them. And I know it sounds funny, but you'd almost prefer them to give up even more goals, potentially, and kind of getting out and playing, because getting into that 5-3-2, as they saw over the weekend with Valencia, did them no favors. 33rd minute, yeah, I know, we're 33 minutes, I didn't even mention Lamine Yamal yet in this game, but Lamine Yamal has one, goes wide, nothing to it. 36 minute, another nothing to it. Argument for a penalty for Lamine Yamal this time, two players with hands on his shirt, but the ref's argument was probably that he wasn't going to catch up to the ball, and the contact didn't affect the play, but definitely contact here. Feyenoord, I will say after that, does get some things right going down their right side, and immediately after that, Cancelo hits the post from a tight angle. So, a bit more up-and-down stuff that neither team can manage to put one home for. And then, Lamine Yamal and Pedri giving that Camp Nou crowd something to cheer about as we neared the half, making them dance, skill moves on display. Just at that point, up 2-0 even, it was a fun time at the Camp Nou. Headline three is two breakdowns. I'm moving to the second half when the rain had a bit subsided, but for all those who were taking pictures in the stadium, it was completely flooded. Everybody was soaking wet by that point. And you always hope that the rain comes at the end, and not at the beginning, because it does kind of make the crowd, but they were completely in it. So, no fault of the Camp Nou crowd. They were completely in it moving into that second half. In the 54th minute, Raphinha goes down in the box, doesn't get the call, and then Olmo gets the yellow to stop the transition. Professional foul, good stuff by Olmo there, honestly. 56th minute, João Garcia takes one to the face. First time I'm really mentioning him, but his fingerprints were all over this match. Fermín was clearly offside, but they had to play it out anyway. And I will say over the course of the match, another player I have not mentioned yet is Pau Cubarsí. He was excellent. There was one play in particular where it was a 4v3 for Feyenoord, and they were going down the right side. Cubarsí manages position himself in between the ball, and then he puts himself perfectly, not between, but where that ball can reach neither the trailing runner or the primary runner who's going out towards that far post. And he puts himself right in the perfect spot. I don't think that his positioning was that good, you know, 3 years ago when he was 16, or even 2 years ago. His box defending, I think, over the summer with the World Cup and the end of last season into this year has improved. His positioning on these counters continues to improve. Pau Cubarsí has been awesome. It has been exciting to watch his growth, and it's in much more subtle things. And that does remind me that No Dom has been on vacation, but Dom will be back in short order for another tactic pad session. So, when we do that, Pablo Torre won't be this week, but he'll be coming up in the future because I think his improvements are something to note, and I thought he was incredible in this match as well. 57th minute, third goal for Barcelona, right up the middle. Pedri threads the needle, and what a job by Raphinha to stay onside. Perfect placement of the hips to stay the line. Checks to the ball, fakes out the back line defender, and then accelerates through the ball with his run. It did help though that Pedri also broke through three lines with the pass, so good job by Pedri picking up those assists. And for Raphinha, took himself with a touch away from the defenders and finishing across goal. The brace for him, now he moves up, and he is on the short list. I believe he is fifth all time in Champions League goals for Barcelona, and he is just one away from another Brazilian in Romário. When Raphinha is clinical, when Raphinha is healthy, that's really all you need in Hansi Flick's system for Raphinha to excel. He's being asked to play a new position this season, and it feels like it's his best position after all. This is just really fun to watch Raphinha in this progression. 59th minute, it looked like it might be 3-1 after I was just praising the back line, but it's called off for offside on the Ferran Torres goal. Still some worrying signs here. Target line on the initial pass, checks back, made the run, and that was onside, but the offside position is already affected, and there it is, it's taken off the board. It's still 3-0 at that point. Headline four is free kick fortune. 63rd minute, here comes some subs for Barcelona. It's Gündoğan and Bernal on for Adigemi and Pedri. Still like-for-like subs, and Bernal getting the opportunity to play with Rodri instead of being the sub for each other. And that was definitely something that I was interested to see, and what it was is that Bernal wasn't really asked to do much of the controlling at all, the way he was when he was doing the double pivot with Pedri to start this season as Rodri was picking up his fitness. No, it was Rodri, not even necessarily playing as a six, Bernal's position at times in the double pivot, but he was much more having a free role the way Frenkie de Jong has, playing in that eight next to when Pedri is traditionally just, we'll say, the six of the double pivot. I know, again, double pivot, I'm messing up the numbers here, but Bernal being the motor to Rodri's control, let's simplify it by saying it that way. 71st minute, here's another sub, Raphinha. I think he might have said to Hansi Flick, "Hey, I know you want to rest me and rotate me, but I would have loved to score my hat-trick in the Champions League, but instead you're giving Fermín another hungry guy an opportunity." So, with that, Olmo and Fermín become the two 10s. And I will say false nines, and the reason I say that is, again, to set up a future tactics with Dom in the future when we talk about the permutation of the two 10s or the two nines, whatever you want to call it, with Olmo and Fermín. Speaking of Fermín, requires a save from the keeper right after he comes on. In the 76th minute, offside anyway, but Juan García shuts it down even if it wasn't. And right after that, Dani Olmo is fouled outside the box, and that means stepping up late here is Lamine Yamal with Raphinha off. Lamine Yamal with a free kick, goal got through the five of the wall. This is more the wall error than it is Lamine Yamal, but hey, every time you shoot, there's still a chance to get it on goal. If you're going to put it on goal, sometimes it goes in. Again, mistake from the wall, they instead jump vertically, sideways, making themselves thinner, not wider. They opened it up for him. The Red Sea parted, he wind up scoring the goal, and nothing the goalkeeper could do. Right after that, there was a chance for Gordon. He was played in behind, but then Bernal's shot is blocked, and we go to our final chapter. One for Gabriel Jesus. Before we get to talk about Barcelona's fifth goal, we got to talk about the first one for Feyenoord that does stay on the board. 82nd minute, Barca's back line starting to look a little bit gassed, and I know that Christensen can't go 90. That continues to be an issue throughout his career. I'd rather have him be healthy and on the field than not be available, but having one of your center-backs not be able to go 90 is a concern with rotations. And Feyenoord, they still won it one. They didn't care so much that Barcelona's back line was getting a bit slow in the legs. Borges goes one-on-one with Cancelo. I didn't think had the best defensive game. The back line steps up and Stam Staijan is there at the back post for the finish. It does look like it's Kounde's fault at first viewing, but Cubarsi was the initial one to step and he does it a second late. So, the back line with that offside trap is following their leader and Kounde also reacted to that a little bit slowly. Also didn't get back to the man. So, with Kounde, I think again he was let down by Cubarsi, but he also has to do a better job there, too. To finish this match, it's Gavi and Gabriel Jesus coming on for Omo and Rodri. And then the 5-1 85th minute Lamine Yamal allowed to get back to his left foot. Can't let him do that. The cross just graces the head of Gabriel Jesus. A perfect flick on and again nothing for the keeper to do. If I remember right, and please correct me on this down in the comments on social media, wherever. I think I said that if he scores double-digit goals, like 10 goals in less than 1,000 minutes, then this season is overwhelmingly a success for Gabriel Jesus. So, I feel like we're a tenth of the way there already and he's only been here a week. So, job by Gabriel Jesus inside the box making it the fifth for Barcelona. And maybe just as much fun on the other side of the field right after he scored the goal, he goes all the way back. I think he was the farthest defender at one point and presses all the way back to his own goal. Mwah. Chef's kiss for you, Gabriel Jesus. You wind up following the line of Rafinha and the Griezmanns, the guys who are willing to defend their own box being a winger, a center forward, whatever it is. So, good stuff from Gabriel Jesus. 90th minute, another terrific save from Joan Garcia pushing the ball out. And then Gabriel Jesus didn't miss on a second, but the header hitting the top of the crossbar and that is three points for Barcelona in the books in their first Champions League night of the season. Great stuff all around. More rotation. Nobody got hurt. Yeah, Kounde didn't have the best game. Cancelo could have had a better game defensively, but you have to be happy about five more goals for Barcelona who have now scored 22 goals to begin this season and conceded just three. They've got Levante on Sunday morning, at least that's East Coast time. And I'm not saying that it's going to be a guaranteed win, but the way Levante is playing, even though they did have one upset already this season. But anyway, the way that Levante is kind of playing from match to match this season, Barcelona, as long as they continue to play the way they are, I don't know if Levante has much of a chance even in the first half. It is wonderful to be enjoying this season, and I'm enjoying it with all of you. So, I appreciate it. Let's continue the good time until those big tests come up, and we'll see what happens there. In the meantime, again, subscribe, do all that good stuff, and I will see you soon. We have another podcast coming out this week. So, of course, you don't want to miss it. Subscribe wherever you get it, including on Patreon. Until then, Forca Barca.