The goal is priceless

Lewandowski tries to finish off a corner against the Salzburg defense. KERSTIN JOENSSON (AFP)

The goal is expensive.

This is one of the maxims in football that causes so many headaches in the sports areas of the clubs, since a forward is always chased who is easily related to the aim and who does not unbalance the accounts, nor the harmony in a locker room.

The millions are unashamedly destined for the search because the goals are not only triumphs, but also give joy and celebrations, illusions and realities.

But in a whimsical nod to football, during this European week the referential forwards —with the exception of Liverpool with Firmino and Salah, who defeated Inter— have been at odds with the goal to reaffirm the thesis and also explain that the goal sometimes priceless.

Paris Saint-Germain, which has stars up front (Mbappé, Messi, Neymar, Di María...), needed 22 shots to overcome Courtois, who did make three good stretches against the rival siege.

The goal came at the buzzer, with a slalom and a hit by Mbappé, enough to flake a Madrid with attackers like Benzema, Vinicius, Rodrygo or Asensio, unable to say a peep in the rival area.

More of the same happened in the match that measured Bayern Munich against Red Bull Salzburg, as he tried 22 times with figures of the stature of Lewandowski, Gnabry, Sané and Müller so that only Coman could put the tables in the last death rattle of the match, a ball hung in the area prolonged by Müller and resolved to the virulé.

And Barcelona, ​​already in the Europa League,

It happens, in any case, that it is not easy for forwards to shine as much as in past decades, when there were more spaces and when not all were athletes.

“It has always been easier to defend than to attack, but now there is a lot of work for the coaching staff to deny rival offenses”, remembers Andoni Zubizarreta, who has held the sports management of Athletic, Barcelona and Olympique de Marseille;

“In addition, the finishing ability is required to be even faster and more precise because it is played in smaller spaces and the goalkeepers are also better.”

In this line moves Albert Valentín, who worked in the technical secretariat of Espanyol and Barça, now technical director of Qatar's Al Rayyan: "Football evolves on the field and in the notebook, and tactical work is square and square,

is less.

And it could be that

scorers are missing because it is no longer easy to score with a simple center because it is hard to close passing lines, coverage, how to defend the balls hanging in the area, where to press, the reduction of spaces…”.

Although Jorge Valdano, former player and coach of Madrid, Tenerife and Valencia, adds: “It is that a historically effective player can afford to have a bad day.

The data is disconcerting because Lewandowski, Messi, Mbappé always give you guarantees, but over time they always respond.

The rival's denial is evidenced by Barcelona, ​​which since Xavi arrived has only won two games —of the 18 he has played— by more than one goal difference.

Or Madrid, who in the last four games (Athletic in the Cup, Granada and Villarreal in the League, and PSG in the Champions League) has made 51 shots and has only scored one goal.

This week, in addition, Bayern received four goals from the bottom club, Bochum, in the same way that Atlético, the bombastic forward with Suárez, João Felix, Correa and company, could not beat Levante at the Wanda.

The difference is that PSG, Bayern, Barcelona and almost always Madrid manage to score their goal, even if it's at the buzzer.

“All these teams are offensive,

They don't just play on the counterattack and they are capable of scoring at the last moment because they maintain their offensive capacity until the end and because they have put the opponent through enormous wear and tear.

It is the consequence of persistence”, understands Andoni Zubizarreta.

“In those final stages, one has the need to risk and forgets everything to hang the ball into the area, while the other is afraid of losing what he has won and ends up getting into his area.

These are circumstantial moments”, adds Albert Valentín.

"That and that the important thing is the goal pass, because the striker's middle class has been overrated and the quality of delivery is ignored," adds Argentine coach Ángel Cappa, who directed Las Palmas, River Plate and Tenerife among many others.

Andoni Zubizarreta understands.

“In those final stages, one has the need to risk and forgets everything to hang the ball into the area, while the other is afraid of losing what he has won and ends up getting into his area.

These are circumstantial moments”, adds Albert Valentín.

"That and that the important thing is the goal pass, because the striker's middle class has been overrated and the quality of delivery is ignored," adds Argentine coach Ángel Cappa, who directed Las Palmas, River Plate and Tenerife among many others.

Andoni Zubizarreta understands.

“In those final stages, one has the need to risk and forgets everything to hang the ball into the area, while the other is afraid of losing what he has won and ends up getting into his area.

These are circumstantial moments”, adds Albert Valentín.

"That and that the important thing is the goal pass, because the striker's middle class has been overrated and the quality of delivery is ignored," adds Argentine coach Ángel Cappa, who directed Las Palmas, River Plate and Tenerife among many others.

"The goal, son of the game"

Faced with such a lack of aim on the European day and with the certainty that it is easier to destroy than to generate, the opposite was carried by Manchester City, another team that is defined by perseverance in attack.

He achieved against Sporting de Portugal five goals like five soles;

a team that, however, does not have a battering ram but rather expresses itself with midfielders or false nines.

Foden, Mahrez, Bernardo Silva and Sterling —the only pure winger— signed the goals.

"This indicates that managing the play with intelligence, speed is more important... City manufactures football from behind and creates clear and unforced goal situations, so that leads to not only having a single scorer," he slides Cappa.

"City shows us that the goal is the son of the game and not of the specialists," adds Valdano.

“City have players of the highest quality and well selected for what they want to do.

Guardiola is always innovating and provides offensive solutions that surprise the rival.

They cover him and he uncovers.

He provides solutions against almost all defenses, which does not mean that those midfielders or defenders are not as expensive as the forwards, ”intervenes Valentín.

But it is clear that the forwards cost more because they put the end of the game.

"And now they will be more expensive because we are experiencing a commercial overexposure of Mbappé and Haaland," says Zubizarreta, who explains himself;

“They are the players that the market needs because they are young, they have indisputable footballing value and a very long commercial journey.

That the market likes.

Among other things because they are looking for substitutes for the

”.

Although Valentín remembers: "Perhaps they are not worth so much because of their age, but Lewandowski and Benzema are the best example of the total striker on the international scene".

And Cappa intervenes: “Any of them makes a difference.

The problem is when one day they don't do it and the team doesn't accompany them”.

Despite the fact that Ronaldo Nazario summed up his day with a lapidary phrase in the first person: “When you score a goal, you are great.

When you don't, you're fat."

And on this European day the forwards had plenty of love handles.

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