A match, with two winners.

-By Sagar





It is bittersweet, not because of the draw, but because it was Xavi’s last league game. Bittersweet because this will probably be the last time we’ll see Iniesta-Xavi-Messi in a single line-up.

Barca’s lineup featured Masip and Vermaelen, the two ‘highlights’ of the fixture. Even Douglas got a run-in, in the second half and he put in a pretty decent shift.

Deportivo came into the match knowing they needed a minimum of 1 point to stay afloat in the league, but they were up against Barca, and the form that Barca are in, Depor expected a rout. But, Barca’s creaky line-up gave Depor an outside chance, and they took it by the scruff of it’s neck!

Barca got the lead very early in the game from a Leo Messi header, and again in the 60th minute, thanks to a quick counter attack and Ney’s unselfishness.



Barca at 2 – 0 seemed to be cruising and looked to have settled the tie, but Depor really wanted to stay in the league with the big boys, and they made their case, against one of the big boys.

A scrappy, out-of position Barca defense gave Lucas enough space to pull off a stunning shot and stopping it’s trajectory was beyond the capabilities of Barca’s 3rd choice GK, Masip. It didn’t stop there as Deportivo soon found their equalizer as a scrappily cleared free kick landed at the feet of Diogo who smashed it in.

The Deportivo fans and their president Constantino were ecstatic and almost in tears.

When Barca failed to break the deadlock, and the scoreline read 2- 2, not one fan, be it a barca fan or a deportivo fan, was sad. It was a rare sight as all 22 players on the pitch were happy with the result and were in the mood to celebrate, despite the scoreline reading 2 – 2. Such is the game of football.

Barca never looked threatening on the break, despite creating chances as their ‘fear factor’ was missing, and this isn’t criticism. They had won the cup, were giving minutes to fringe players and one of their living legends was playing his last league game. It was a day for heart and emotions, and not brain and tactics. So, when that final whistle blew, and Depor players and staff rushed onto the pitch to celebrate their ‘survival’, the Barca side were gearing up to lift the Liga trophy and say goodbye to football’s very own, Xavi Hernandez.

It was a do-or-die match for Deportivo, but with all due respect to them, it was all about Xavi, and the eyes of the footballing world, were on him.

Xavi.



There are going to be a lot of tributes and praises for the man and he deserves them all.

“The man who controlled the tempo of all 22 players on the pitch. The man who was the central cog in a ‘system’ that redefined football in this time period. The man who ‘created’ spaces on the field.”

His contributions to football, Spain and Barca are endless and will take forever to list them all.

There are a lot of things that can be said about him, but for me, it’s the change. The way he started it, and the way he is ending it.

Xavi went from being called ‘the cancer of the team’, to being called a ‘living legend’.

People asked if he was ‘the next Guardiola’, and he finished his Barca career with people trying to find ‘the next Xavi’. That, for me, is enough to know that he was not just an amazing player, but an amazing person who loved football, and wanted to succeed at it. His love for it is evident and rest assured, he WILL be coming back to Barca. The question is, in what capacity?



Back to today’s match,

Masip was not at fault for both the goals and apart from that, he didn’t have much else to do. Bartra and Vermaelen at CB were solid enough, and Vermaelen especially looked to be exuding positivity with his body language and confidence. Rafinha was a constant threat going forward and helped Xavi and Roberto with maintaining possession in the mid. Pedro did have his moments but would go missing at a stretch. Ney, and Messi, who is also the MotM, tried their best to break Deportivo’s defense, and though they succeeded twice, couldn’t do it again in the final 10 minutes.

This was a fixture that was important to one side, and not so important to the other, and the end of the day both the teams celebrated this draw. Although for different reasons, both teams were happy with the result, and went home with a smile.

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Deportivo:

Best: Diogo (B): He got that equalizer. The one that keeps them in the league. The one that moved his president and his team’s fans to tears.

Questionable display: Sidnei (D): He put in some good clearances at the end of the match, but was found flat footed on more than one occasion. Too slow to make adjustments to sudden threats and was just not sharp.

Barca:

Best: Messi (A): Dropped deep, made runs, scored two goals, kept the ball moving forward, and very deceptively and ‘cunningly’ (compliment), might I add, saved himself for the two finals.

Questionable display: Adriano (C-): seems to keep underperforming whenever he is called up. Or, maybe the bar is set too high for him to play without being criticized, but his plays were again, all over the place and couldn’t get on the same page as his team-mates.

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What Say you?!