Football is not a fair sport. Barça started the match asleep and, boom, goal against, so far so good: if you are not active, you concede, logically. This brilliant start was not even in the most optimistic script of Borja Jiménez, Leganés coach. After the goal, the visiting team became a real bolt whose only objective was to protect Dmitrovic’s goal. And boy did they protect it. They imposed their game, clearly not proactive, and left a very clear modus operandi but, as long as the referee allowed it, everything was legal. Nothing to reproach the white and blues for.
FC Barcelona shot a total of 20 times during the 100 minutes90 of regulation and 10 of added time between both halves, that lasted the match at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. Of that total of shots, only 4 found the goal. They may not seem like many, perhaps for the team with the most goals in Europebut they would have been more than enough to take the three points. Two of those chances that made Dmitrovic work came from the right foot of Lewandowski, who incomprehensibly missed two situations with a high percentage of goals.
Continuing with the hypothesis of the lack of justice in this sport, having many chances does not guarantee victory. Barça clearly dominated possessionas they had the ball for 80% of the match. They had many opportunities to score and, in fact, the statistic of expected goals reflects 2.67 in favor of the Catalans and 0.4 for the team from Pepinero. However, football does not understand numbers, only opportunities taken advantage of.
Robert Lewandowski has been scoring at an astonishing rate for half a season. The Polish striker has accumulated 23 goals in 23 games played, in addition to adding 2 assists to his teammates. He is the striker that Barcelona missed so much last season. However, against Leganés he had a good chance and this defined the match. He missed a chance, completely alone, at point-blank range in the 10th minute. He just had to push it into any of the free areaswhich were several, those that the visiting goalkeeper would not reach. But no, the Golden Boot leader shot at the dummy.
Later, just after the first half hour of play, Pedri sent an excellent high pass to the ‘9’ wearing the Barça shirt. With exquisite control, he lowered the ball and directed it to hit. It was another golden opportunity, just after a great save by Dmitrovic from Raphinha, but he missed it. Having the possibility of shooting a powerful volley or getting closer, although he was practically in the area, he decided to try a low shot, much easier for the rival goalkeeper to clear.
It’s okay, ‘Lewy’. It’s normal to have a bad day, it happens to anyone, although it’s logical that, in such a dull game, in which Barça was lacking in magic and goals, this weighs more. Without meaning to reproach, but, what if they had gone in, Robert?
