Dembele electrified the Camp Nou, Xavi: "That's why I fought for him to stay"
The French gave his best game in Barcelona with a goal and three assists against Bilbao.
The coach revealed the tactical secret, and also: Ter Stegen's historical figure
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sport
24/10/2022
Monday, October 24, 2022, 07:15
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Tiktekno, summary of today's events in sport 24.10 (Sport1)
Only a week and a day have passed since Barcelona's painful loss in the Clasico against Real Madrid.
After the match against the champion, the Catalans expected two very difficult home games against top teams, but those who thought that the disappointment in the Clasico would hurt the morale of Xavi's team were greatly mistaken.
Four days after the 0:3 against Villarreal, Barcelona exploded against the powerful Bilbao with a crushing 0:4 at Camp Nou with Ousmane Dembele leading the way.
The Frenchman, who did not start against Villarreal, returned to Xavi's 11 and responded with a solo performance that included a goal and three assists for Lewandowski, Sergi Roberto and Fran Torres who limped off in the second half.
The joy of the victory was clouded by a slight injury to Gabi, who took a strong blow to the face and was replaced in the 34th minute while bitterly crying.
The one who will not remember this game well is Rafinha, who for the first time this season was not partnered by Xavi.
On the bright side, Barcelona goalkeeper Ter Stegen kept a clean sheet for the ninth of 11 games and is the first goalkeeper in history to do so in the opening 11 rounds in Spain.
Score 10. Dembele celebrates with Lewandowski (Photo: GettyImages, Alex Caparros)
Ernesto Valverde, the Bilbao coach who made his debut at the Camp Nou against Barca since he was fired, praised the Frenchman and said: "Dembele is simply amazing. Barcelona surprised me. They were much better. After the second goal, they killed us and we really suffered."
The coach admitted that "Xavi's tactical plan was great. He played with 4 midfielders and Pedri was left unguarded on the left side. It hurt us."
"Dembele had a great game," Xavi praised the victory star, "Osman, Fran and Anso, everyone wants to play and the competition is welcome. We always wanted Dembele to play at this level. That's why I wanted him to stay so much and that's why I give him so much confidence We knew they would put a lot of pressure on us, that's why we played with another midfielder instead of a striker. The team understood my method of play."
Sergio Busquets recalled the previous disappointments when he said: "We didn't do what we should have done against Inter at Camp Nou. It's a disappointment and now it's not in our hands. We deserved more in this game, but now we have to wait for the result of Inter against Plzen. In the last two games we played Very good. We gave Xavi a positive headache."
"We have huge potential," Lewandowski said, "It was an amazing game, we have to keep playing like this. The season is very long and we want to make our fans happy."
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world football
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Barcelona in football
Osman Dembele