Barça B lost 2-1 in Olot’s pitch, the team lost points away from home for the third time in a row and finished the day as penultimate in the table. The Barça youth team continue without raising its head, without being able to translate the control of the ball into clear occasions and goals.
The starting XI this afternoon included a couple of surprises but without many players due to injury which continues to affect the team’s performance. With 6 missing players due to injury, including Oriol Busquets who suffered a muscle injury in the last match against l’Hospitalet, and three players in first-team dynamics, Iñaki Peña, Óscar Mingueza and Konrad de la Fuente.
XI: Carevic, Álvaro Sánz, Ramos Mingo, Arnau Comas, Alejandro Baldé, Jandro Orellana, Lucas de Vega, Matheus Pereira, Peque, Rey Manaj and Ilias Akhomach.
García Pimienta’s team creates the plays from the back and faithful to the style. From the defence to the centre of the field everything seems to be going well but once crossing the middle things get complicated and the B team runs out of options in attack and don’t seem able to generate any danger.
The Barcelona team went ahead at the beginning of the game, minute 10, after a good movement and dribbling by Matheus, they committed a penalty and was kicked by Rey Manaj scoring his second goal of the season. The team was ahead in a desperate search to secure much-needed points. The locals drew before halftime with a header from a corner, more demerit for the defence than merit for the scorer.
However, the game was decided between the lack of chances and two childish errors in defence that Olot capitalized on, first the corner and then a series of rebounds in Carevic’s area.
You can perceive that García Pimienta’s team wants to but cannot, in the effort there is nothing to blame. The best of the match was put by Álvaro Sánz with a notable improvement in defence and attack as a right-back, far from his natural position but fulfilling more and more comfortable a position that the team needs him so much. Álex Collado’s return finally took place and in the first ball he touched, he created a clear chance that Zeballos could not materialize. It is worth mentioning the good game of Lucas de Vega and how he is beginning to secure his place in the eleven with Jandro Orellana, the pressure valve that controls the game of his tea, and the footballer who seems a level above his category.
This season’s Barça B is a team undergoing reconstruction with many young people after losing their spine and most important players from last season. Among signings that were not up to the level requested by the coach, the challenge lies ahead and both García Pimienta and his boys are willing to face it, with patience, commitment and fidelity to the club they defend.
This Sunday the team returns home, returns to Johan Cruyff to face Lleida and looking to reverse the difficult situation in which they find themselves. Back in Barcelona, there are only two options: win or win.
