Rodri's Debut, Another Clean Sheet Win, and the UCL Draw | 5 Headlines
Rodri makes his Barcelona debut and Hansi Flick's men grab their second clean sheet in a 2-0 win over Athletic Club. Joan García is a sweeper keeper, Pedri looked like himself again, and Xavi Espart continues his rise. Plus, the Champions League draw, mystery centre-back, and more! 0:00 Barcelona 2-0 Athletic Club 1:13 Sweeper Keeper 4:24 Raphinha Keeps Scoring 6:27 Pedri is Back 8:20 Rodri is Here 10:30 Laporte's Gift 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
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two wins and two clean sheets to start the season with a team that is just beginning to grow together. In fact, when I say grow, I mean still kind of physically growing a lot of those players. This is the youngest ever average age at the camp note in its history. And for the first time ever, 10 of the 11 players that Barcelona started today were born in the 21st century. With Rafiniah, that 1996 birthday, what an old man he is, was the only one from the 20th century. And then Rodri, another 1996 birthday, makes his Barcelona debut in the second half. So, a lot to talk about from this victory over Athletic Club today. So, welcome to episode 846 of the Barcelona podcast, brought to you by the Blue Wire Podcast Network. I'm Dan Hilton. We are still off for a few more weeks here before big up and those watch songs return. So, all the action is here on YouTube or the podcast apps or on Patreon where I'm in the final stages of that Patreon only content that I've been promising for a few weeks now. It's recorded, it's editing, and I'm currently working on current events stuff, but that will be out soon. And for as low as $3, you can get that over on Patreon. So, help me out. Help me to make more shows like this. And without further ado, let's dive in. Now, here are the five headlines from the 20 win with that clue. Headline one is sweeper keeper. The starting 11 today from Hanzi Flick was similar to what we saw in the first game with a few little tweaks here. Dwan Garcia, unless he's injured, is going to be starting, I think, almost every game this season. We'll see how Lakovic fits in and I don't think he's leaving but we'll talk about that later. Shavia Spar today wearing number 12 officially promoted to the first team here along with Gerard Martine Kubarci Eric Garcia Bernol Pedri Fermine in the midfield and then Gordon getting his first start and his first start at home rafinia and the mean rounding out that front three. Now, Athletic Club, here is what they were trying to do early. It was Nico Williams, and believe it or not, this is the only time I'm going to mention Nico in its entire five headlines to speak a little bit about the state that he is currently in with Athletic Club. But anyway, the early game plan was to have Nico Williams versus Eric Garcia, which meant that Dwan Garcia, the sweeper keeper, had to get things right. And he did exactly that, especially in the first half to shut Athletic Club and some of those half counterattacks down. He was excellent in weeding the space off his line. When teams do succeed against Barcelona, we know what happens when they succeed. It's when they play 5v4 against that Barca high line. And today he was there to solve any of those issues. And that is exactly the reason why I think Levakovic is going to be sticking around because I don't see tech a number of times today. I don't see how tech can defend that space. And so Barcelona have to change their approach. And we know the Hanzi Flick and that high line and that high pressure has built this team if anything to go more allin on that this year than farther away. So that's why I don't think Lakovic is heading out this transfer window. There were also periods in this game where Dan Garcia had to come up big to shield and help out Gerard Martin who didn't have his best game. But also there was a bunch of moments where people were really praising him. And I would say that instead of saying it was an average day for Gerard Martin, I think it was more of a very hot and very cold day. Fortunately, even as cold as it was, he didn't make that one huge mistake that cost Barcelona a goal. He just had one little mistake that did give Shave Spar a yellow that he had to take. Fortunately, it was not a red. And in even more detail, while we will get to the attackers for Barcelona, of course, this first headline is praised about the macro of just how good Barcelona's defense has been. The rest defense, the back line, the midfield, and the structure of the Hanzi Flick has these World Cup players especially fitting in not having done much of a preseason and hitting the ground running the way that they have been. As I said, Atletic Club's game plan was to make it five against Barc's high line with Sunset or Garudetta making the delayed run through the middle or overload a wing. When a Spar or Eric step forward to deal with the on-rushing fullback or the Williams brothers on the wings, they would collect the ball in a deeper position and that would create the numerical disadvantage on those wings for Barcelona. But the fact is Barca and this is where I say Bernal and Pedri now start to fit into this. They covered for each other exceptionally well and they did use Dan Garcia as I said as an extra defender to help out. So that numerical advantage that on paper athletic club thought was a 5v4 wound up being a 6v5 in Barcelona's favor. Some foreshadowing here in the 12th minute on the other side of the field. Leaport picks up a little bit of a knock has to come off to the sideline wait his turn to come back on but he did stay in the game. Headline two is Rafina keeps scoring. I talked a lot about Athletic Club's game plan that Barcelona were able to halt. But on their side, Barcelona's game plan is what we're accustomed to, but the Winkle today, we saw a little bit of it in that first game against Elche, but against this mid block where Athletic Club were trying to play so narrow, those runs through the middle, the overlapping runs, I should call them more specifically when Shavi Spar would tuck in, which was even the first action of the game. Unfortunately, Rafini was a bit offside. But from the very jump for Barcelona, the overloads in midfield that they could get to create the space in between the lines vertically that was essential to having success against athletic club today. In the 19th minute is from Dwan Garcia. Gordon from the left side. A nutmeg switch of play. Lean ball shot forces Unimo to make a diving save. That is not going to be the first time I'm going to talk about those two and that particular thing happening in this game. In the 24th minute, Aspar on the turn with a ball threaded from Pedri. Aspar looped the ball into the box where Fenus's header hit the post. Then the Mini Mall's follow-up was deflected. Though it wasn't great, as I said, for a Spar right after that picked up the yellow, but he survived the full 90 on a yellow, which for a manager to trust a 19-year-old when you have other fullback options while on the bench. Yeah, that speaks volumes. In the 29th minute, Barcelona thought they went ahead here on a Pedri goal, but it's called offside. Liam Mal just barely offside from the ball over the top from Garcia. Started the action. He did affect the ball from Gordon to Pedri, but it was close enough for them to take a look at it. Unfortunately, Barcelona had to wait eight minutes, which in the 37th minute, here comes that opener on the foot of Rafinia. After athletic club had a chance that got called offside on the other side of the pitch, Pedri found Rafinia with Fermine standing in an offside position. So, yes, whatever Athletic Club thought they were doing at the highline, Barcelona is saying, "We can do this a little bit better and we also train against this." So that timing was pitcher perfect and Athletic Club failed to track the runner in Rafinia and the fullbacks kept him on side. Athletic club does have experienced center backs but their fullbacks are still quite inexperienced at first team level. Rafinia was able then with all that space to dribble around Un Simone and pass it into the net for the 1. Headline three is Pedri is back. We are bouncing around here with these five headlines which I usually go in chronological order which I am on the goals. But I also have to kind of stop here for a moment and tell you that this Pedri performance made me very very happy. I already praised Shabia Spar. We've been praising Rafinia a little bit here. We talked about the backline, Dwan Garcia, all that good stuff. But Pedri, my goodness, Pedri, it felt like he was back. This was his best performance for me since maybe a month or two before the World Cup. Not at the World Cup where he became a World Cup winner, but before the World Cup, he looked like himself today in every facet of the game. Defensively, offensively, and the fact that Hanzi Flick, which we'll get to in the next headline, now has the option to pair him with Rodri when Rodri gets healthy. Just having Bernol and Pedri together brought a bit more out of Bernol where he looked better to me today than he did in the last match against Elie when he was paired with Gabby. Because Pedri, I think, still more than any other player in this team, does have an innate ability to make everybody around him better. Some of the best footballers ever can do that. And I think Pedri does that better than everybody else in this side. And maybe this season, it's Rodri who has the argument that he's the one who does it better than everybody else. Either way, in the 41st minute, it should have been two for Barcelona. Mark Bernol wins it on the press and Lamini Maul was the free man on the quick counter. He again has a save by Simone. 49th minute. Now jumping ahead to the second half after Kubarci got kicked in the head. It's another exceptional through ball to Rafinia from Aspar tucking in. Aspar in the 59th minute got a long shot off after that then Fermine after that and Barcelona should have been up by two somewhere through that first half. Second half it just felt very uneven and if Barcelona dropped points it would have been hard done by. 53rd minute even. Lem ball hitting the crossbar after winning the ball back on the press. As I said, Barcelona doing everything they needed to do to win this game, but they just had to wait for that second goal. Headline four is Rodri is here. The second goal would have to wait, but Rodri would not because in the 62nd minute, Rodri and Almo coming on. Fans giving Rodri the Valentur winner the applause that his career merits and welcoming him to the camp know. Bernol and Renaia come off for them. And as expected, and I say this is as expected, Hanzi Flick, who's been very rigid with that 42-31 and saying, "Yeah, these are players that don't totally fit in my system. You're gonna have to find a spot here in this 42-31." Except if I guess you're a Bandor winner because when Rodri comes on, Barcelona basically switched to a 4-33. But also interesting to note with Rodri then playing in a much deeper position and Pedri being able to push forward that meant that there's a lot of flexibility just like against Elce in the second half with Almo and Fermy Lopez. Yes, it was Fermine playing as that false nine actually don't even say false nine. He was up in the box a ton and Almo was the one who was just underneath him basically the secondary striker with almost a twoman midfield because we also had Shave Easar tucking in as that third midfielder. So Rodri just allows you to do different things. And I don't want to get too stuck in the numbers, but the way that he by entering that game just took the wind out of athletic club sales, slowed everything down, and made Barcelona look much more solid in and around their own box. Yes, Athletic Club had more opportunities, but Barcelona just looked so much more competent with Rodri there getting out of pressure inside their own box. 68th minute, Lamin played through by Pedri. The touch by Lamini Maul, way too strong and Simone got to it. 72nd minute. Here's Lamin again. This time he threads the needle to Gordon whose shot is deflected by the defender. 75th minute is probably the best opportunity of the game for Athletic Club. Eric Garcia was definitely fouled by Bannon Jay. I don't want to hear anything otherwise. He was pulled by the shirt, but the ref didn't give it and Sunset hit the post and had Dwan Garcia beat. But yes, it would have counted. That would have been a 1-1. Crazy scenes. If it did, maybe they go back and look at it with V for the foul, but ref didn't call it. Would have been hard to overturn. 79th minute. This is the box stuff that I was mentioning. A bunch of action in the PK box for Barcelona ending with Kubarci in an offside position taking a bicycle attempt on the other side which would have been tons of fun if Kubarzi wind up scoring that. Then headline five is the port's gif to round this one out. Kundai and Adi coming on for Eric and Gordon as we near the end of this match in the 82nd minute. Here comes the second goal for Barcelona. Athletic clubs blunder though more than Barcelona scoring and taking advantage. Leaport making a huge mistake. Adi driving down the left. Leaport getting himself all twisted in the hips and Fermine jumps on the loose ball with Unai Simone already beaten. 84th minute. Admy is denied a goal that is offside anyway by Unai Simone. Crazy save and unfortunately for him he was already down 2. He deserved the man of the match for the performance he put on. And trust me all the guys were saying that ah they just couldn't beat him on the day at le goals. I'm not too worried about that. So just credit to Uni Simone. 85th minute, Pedu off for Canelo and a score steps into the midfield. More versatility. Gotta love it from the kid. And then the 88th minute, another Unai Simone save on Admi, which did cap off a great performance for him. Too bad the rest of his team let in two goals. Well, he did too, but Barcelona too much from them on the day. Clearly outclass a better club and easily deserved all three points. Good start to the home record for Barcelona this season going two for two and two clean sheets. Great stuff. Now before we go, we just have to talk about some of the other stuff that happened. And while they've been good to start Liga, let's hope they can take that form into the Champions League phase, which starts in already a few weeks time. The draw for the league phase home against Man City, Aston Villa, Fionord, and Ko, and then away PSG, Sporting CP, Galatasaray, and Saba, the Aubayan new debutant to the Champions League. And we will get into whether it's Rodri against his former team in Man City, whether it's Fabregas in charge of Ko or Van Brockhor in charge of Fire. There are a number of different stories and overlapping fun stuff to go over with this Champions League phase, but we've got time to do that. What is running out of time though is this transfer window. Now, the Julian Alberta stuff, Barv and I, Leavonne, we went over it in the show a few days ago, but there's just one quote that I'm gonna leave you with because we're at 0% chance. It has to be. Atletico Madrid cannot relent at this point. They cannot because of course, while the story is about Dwayne Alvarez, it is no longer about him, which I think makes Alvarez is a loser in all of this. Of course, unless he does get the move to Barcelona, but Alvarez has lost. Barcelona at points I thought you know becoming the enemy of Spain. It feels like they had lost in certain ways in the PR battle of this. But at this point I think even the neutrals who want Barca to fail can clearly see that the main character of this story is the CEO of Atleti in Homarine. He said we will not negotiate with Barcelona under any circumstances. Julian is going through a difficult time. They've confused him. We're disgusted by the falsehoods lack of ethics and transparency. Again, neutrals at this point are saying, "What has Barcelona done differently that other clubs don't do with this transfer stuff?" So many players have refused to come to training, all that stuff. Forced to move, whatever. This saga didn't have to be this ugly until Athletic made it this ugly and made this move completely impossible. Let's see if Alvarez does go to Arsenal at this point because the club does feel like they're saying, "Yeah, you have to go to Arsenal. There's no other option here." But yet, they have the I'm going to call it audacity to ask 120 130 from Arsenal when they've I think lost their own leverage in that negotiation which is just simply unbelievable. It just feels like their hubris. I mean they could be doing all of this behind closed doors with Barcelona. Barcelona were never going to be the heroes in this. why they're not operating behind closed doors and why they seemingly are speaking more to the media than Alvarez and his agent are. It's kind of baffling that they would give up their own leverage in this stuff unless they truly believe this is all going to carry over to January and then eventually they're going to have to concede. It's just it's kind of unbelievable to me. Another little bit of not say unbelievable thing, but the journalist had a little bit of fun yesterday in saying that there was a mystery center back for Barcelona that was on his way. And the name that has been leaked appears to be Ruden Nishad, which I've actually already covered because Barcelona were heavily linked with him over the summer, but Tvent had asked for too much and I guess Barcelona back in on him. So yeah, it's not really that crazy a mystery if he's already been linked, but we'll see if that deal gets done. But I have obviously seen a lot of reactions that people think that Barcelona should only be bringing in a guaranteed left- footed center back that is better than Dar Martine that has experience and is just going to slot right in, which is what Nishad would not be. He would be a project. And as I actually tweeted out, there are a ton of left- footed prospects for Barcelona between 17 and 19 years old that are between the 199s and Bars Athletic coming up. And I'd say there's about six that could be the next guy. And I know that obviously maybe even one of them could make it. And obviously the other five will likely not. But for Barcelona to have all those prospects to bring in another teenager, it seems a bit odd at that position. But I think they already feel like he is clearly doing first team football, which most of them are not, and he's ready to jump into a first team role with Barcelona. Hey, looks like they've got Jesse Bassu right already. So, I can't deny Deco in that scouting department anymore. But I can say that I've had my fill for today. So, we will see you on Monday for Ryano. I likely will kind of be off for the rest of the weekend, which is good unless you're a Patreon. I do plan on releasing that this weekend. So, become a Patreon, all that good stuff. YouTube, subscribe, podcast apps, and until next time, as always, more or