FC Barcelona wins at Xavi coach debut: With euphoria and a lot of dizziness

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Debut on the Barça sideline: Xavi celebrated a narrow win against Espanyol

Photo:

ALBERT GEA / REUTERS

Xavi's coaching debut at FC Barcelona ended tellingly: Marc-André ter Stegen saw a yellow card in the 89th minute for playing for time to save the narrow win.

Mind you against Espanyol, the comparative dwarf in Catalan football.

Xavi's first game on the Camp Nou sideline started with a befitting stadium reception by the Culers, as Barcelona fans are called, who had even avoided Camp Nou recently.

And it ended in a tremendous game.

The 1-0 (0-0) from a controversial penalty by Memphis Depay (46th minute) was at least flattering in the end.

RDT - these three letters repeatedly frightened the Barcelona defensive on Saturday evening.

Raúl de Tomás is Espanyol's star player, the last time he was nominated for the Spanish national team for the first time, he only has his initials on his jersey.

And in the final phase, RDT hit the post twice, first with a wonderful free kick from around 25 meters, which hit the left outer post (81st) as did his header five minutes later (86th).

Barça had convinced at the beginning of the game, sometimes even showing the beginnings of wonderful combinations, for which the Barcelona of the player Xavi had become famous.

With four players from the starting XI, »El Maquina« (»The Machine«) was still on the pitch: Gerard Piqué, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and ter Stegen.

Eight times La Masia in the starting XI

In addition to Busquets, one of the squad's greatest talents was particularly convincing: The 1.73-meter-tall and 17-year-old Gavi played on the left wing and was extremely happy to play, despite his open laces in the first half, reminiscent of school court football .

Not too far from that was Ilias Akhomach, also 17 years old, who made his debut and was one of eight players from the legendary Barça football school La Masia, from which Xavi himself was born.

Akhomach was also the one who missed the greatest opportunity for Barcelona. He shot one of the many flat crosses from Gavi standing free over the goal (13th). And otherwise Espanyol seemed overwhelmed for long stretches in the first round, smart runs from Frenkie de Jong to the top caused problems for the supposed outsider. But once Raúl de Tomás was already dangerous, with a deflected shot from an acute angle, he failed at the last criticized but strong ter Stegen in the city duel (44th).

The fact that Barcelona were allowed to cheer was due to a strong pass from Gavi into the penalty area to Memphis and an impetuous entry from Espanyol's Cabrera.

Referee Carlos Del Cerro Grande decided the disbelief of the guests to the point and stuck to his decision, Memphis converted itself (48th).

At the latest when Busquets, who repeatedly even came to an end himself, had to get out in the final phase, Barcelona's dominance ended.

It was still enough to win.

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