It was still oozing on the skin of the Barcelona players. The Barça challenge was not only to win: it was to control the anger without drowning in it. In a match with four goals disallowed, scuffles between players and staff and intensity and dispute from the beginning, Barça managed to settle accounts with the past with a double from a great Ewa Pajor and goals from Aitana Bonmatí and Sydney Schertenleib. They could not beat Cata Coll, who saved a penalty that unleashed tension between both teams. Barça maintains the lead and increases the distance with Madrid to seven points, but above all it sustains its wounded pride.
4
Cata Coll, Esmee Brugts (Aïcha Cámara, min. 71), Mapi León, Ona Batlle, Irene Paredes, Vicky López (Aitana Bonmatí, min. 59), Laia Aleixandri (Clara Serrajordi, min. 88), Alexia Putellas, Clàudia Pina (Kika Nazareth, min. 71), Ewa Pajor (Sydney Schertenleib, min. 88) and Caroline Graham Hansen
0
Misa, Maëlle Lakrar, Yasmim (Sheila García, min. 54), Eva Navarro, María Méndez, Caroline Weir, Sara Däbritz, Filippa Angeldahl (Irune Dorado, min. 62), Lotte Keukelaar (Alba Redondo, min. 54), Naomie Feller (Athenea del Castillo, min. 54) and Linda Caicedo (Paula Comendador, min. 69)
Goals
1-0 min. 14: Ewa Pajor. 2-0 min. 29: Ewa Pajor. 3-0 min. 90: Sydney Schertenleib. 4-0 min. 92: Aitana Bonmatí
Referee Paola Cebollada López
yellow cards
Alexia Putellas (min. 27), Yasmim (min. 51), Sara Däbritz (min. 52), Romeu (min. 58), Sheila García (min. 87), Irune Dorado (min. 88), Clara Serrajordi (min. 88), Eva Navarro (min. 91), Paula Comendador (min. 95)
The killer from the area Pajor regained ownership after his injury, a decision that moved the rest of the chips. Graham Hansen returned to the right wing, Claudia Pina—league top scorer—remained on the left, came out of the interior in place of Aitana Bonmatí, with discomfort in her ischium. Pere Romeu did not touch his most reliable defense, and placed Laia Aleixandri in Patri Guijarro’s space to command the team along with Alexia Putellas. Pau Quesada, debutant in a classic, came out with the most recurring system, with a double pivot formed by Angeldahl and Däbritz, and differential players ahead: Caroline Weir, Linda Caicedo —team leader— and Keukelaar, with Feller as the forward. In goal, given Frohms’ injury, to continue as the only one who has played in all the classics.
The meeting became a duel of head and heart. For Barça, the balance was fragile, a thread stretched between the memory of the defeat and the desire for revenge. For Madrid, a question of survival, but also with the memory of that victory and the blockade they released then. The team led by Quesada came out to compete face to face with the Blaugranas, and the start was more than intense, with work for the players, but more for the referee: three goals disallowed in just 23 minutes. Before the first goal was completed, Alexia already hit the post with a header, and shortly after Cata Coll already took a ball under the goal line. The stage accompanied the constant beating of the two teams: 36,276 people flooded the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys.
Despite the vehemence with which both teams came out, chaos did not reign. Barcelona was furious, without losing form and style, chasing the ghosts of the past with the speed of Graham, and the omnipresence of Esmee Brugts. Madrid, very quick to counterattack with Caicedo, Feller and Weir, pressed high, creating discomfort in the Blaugranas’ release of the ball. Even so, the locals came out tactfully from behind and perfectly read the spaces left by their rivals.
The intensity, but above all, the determination that Barça put into it, had its reward. After a recovery by Brugts, Pina went down the left wing, centered the ball, passed between countless legs, and reached Pajor, who did his thing: score. The Polish striker, in a pure nine move, scored her eighth goal against Madrid, becoming the second all-time top scorer in the classics in just three games played. It wouldn’t be the last one he scored.
Barça smelled blood, and Pajor smelled goals. After a rebound from Misa, the Pole came out with her whole body, put her chest forward and finished with the shield to score the second. Madrid did not want to be left behind, and also made the match difficult for Cata Coll, who had a victorious one-on-one with Linda Caicedo. The Colombian, as dangerous as she was overwhelming, pressed a great Irene Paredes, who reduced balls and took a shot from Weir under the sticks. Madrid was too hasty in attack, and the balance continued to tip towards the Barça side.
With the players tired and Barça relying on reasoning and not so much emotion, the game slowed down. Until a penalty was called against Barça: the tension that simmered during the match came to light, and the players faced each other in the area. Cata, splendid during the match, stopped Weir’s shot, and the tension exploded on the bench between the staff of Barcelona and Madrid.
The Estadi Olímpic exploded with its players, and with the last goals from Sydney Schertenleib and Aitana Bonmatí. Quesada’s project is growing, but he still looks at Barça from below. And the classic was once again Barça; They did not lack heart, and this time neither did they lack head.
