The League is one thing and the Champions League is another. And he took care of that himself. Barcelona to demonstrate this Thursday in the Louis II of Monaco. After a devastating start in the domestic championship, those of Hansi Flick -and the German coach himself- made their debut this season in Europe and suffered the first defeat of the season when they fell 2-1 against the Monaco. The Spanish team played with one less player from the 10th minute after the (deserved) expulsion of Eric García after a blatant mistake by Ter Stegen.
Hansi Flick introduced a single forced change with respect to the match against Girona. The injury of Dani Olmo caused a slight defensive change from the German coach, where he introduced Eric Garcia in the ‘5’ position to overtake Pedri and place him as a midfielder. The rest, all the same. The same ones who scored seven Valladolid and four in the Catalan derby.
Eric Garcia It was the novelty of the eleven of the Barcelona and as a novelty he became the protagonist in the 10th minute of the match, being sent off with a direct red card after a very clear and manifest error by Ter Stegen. As we say, it was the 10th minute of the game and the German goalkeeper got the Spanish player into a situation by giving him the ball with a player on top of him and on the edge of the area. The bad pass caused the loss of possession and Minamino He showed up to score the first, but the Olympic champion bumped into him on the line of the area and the referee did not hesitate to send him off.
To the Barcelona He had to row with one less for 80 minutes… The ghosts of the past were repeated in the debut of flick. But Barça did not give up. In fact, Raphinha He had a very clear chance in the 12th minute, going alone against the goalkeeper of the Monacobut he stumbled and lost the chance to make it 0-1.
And you know friends… Europe is Europe. And that made him know Monaco to the Barcelona in the 16th minute. Akliouche He faced Balde, he faced again, he entered the area… And goal. 1-0 to leave the culés players frozen and make it clear again that one thing is the League and another thing is the Champions League. The movie of recent years was repeated.
Lamine Yamal is a chosen one
When things were worst he Barcelona in it Louis II of Monaco, appeared one more day this season Lamine Yamal. ‘The Chosen One’ proved to be the smartest in the class with vanderson. He destabilized him in the slightest to gain an advantage, he appeared at the edge of the area, faced and adjusted the low ball to the short post. GO-LA-ZO of the kid, who at 17 years old was once again throwing himself into the team behind his back.
And it was scoring the goal Barcelona and Monaco It seemed to be someone else. In fact, they did not know how to take advantage of their superiority and it seemed that it was Barça themselves who had one more player. The reality is that the match went to half-time with a hard-fought and deserved 1-1 for both teams.
After the resumption, Hansi Flick He made several tactical readjustments and it showed. In fact, with one less player, he is a much better player than his rival. And they were the ones who seemed to be superior players. He Barcelona He moved forward without fear and with the desire to take the three points. An abysmal difference compared to last year… we are not going to lie either.
Monaco crushes Barcelona
But the culé resistance lasted 71 minutes. They held on and held on, but on a long ball, the striker Ilenikhenaafter a great pass Vanderson appeared alone before Ter Stegen and this one did not fail. At 18 years old, the Monaco striker knocked down the Barça team in what was going to be the first defeat of the season for the team. Hansi Flick. The ghosts of the past returned.
And it was already in the 80th minute when Hansi Flick seemed to give up, leaving the field of play Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal giving entry to Ferran Torres and Sergi Dominguez. There was little to do and the German coach managed efforts and loads in view of a new ‘final’ next Sunday against the Villarreal.
