Barça B says goodbye to the season by falling short on the final stage for promotion. UCAM Murcia played their match, and after a 2-2 finish at the end of regulation time, they endured the blaugranas ramming until they reached the penalty shootout, where the shooters’ experience prevailed despite a great performance by Iñaki Peña.
Garcia Pimienta’s team faced the final challenge of the season with great expectation after having found brilliant sensations in the second phase. The opponent, UCAM Murcia, had finished in the same position, so the match was open for overtime and penalties. As expected, the Murcians ceded control of the match to Barça, who moved the ball patiently for the first few minutes.
UCAM felt comfortable waiting for his opportunity, and Barça B was unable to find the spaces, which were quickly eliminated by accumulation of defenders or with fouls. In a counterattack, Murcia found their prize through Alberto, who dribbled several defenders and beat Peña to make it 1-0. Barca kept insisting, but it wasn’t until the second half that they found the reward.
An in-the-box play from Matheus led to a dubious penalty, which compensated for an earlier play where a goal by Konrad de la Fuente was ruled out because of a non-existent offside. Rey Manaj perfectly fit the penalty to Biel’s left, and less than 20 minutes later Manaj himself hooked up an offensive transition solo to score a really similar goal to UCAM’s opener.
The comeback gave wings to Pimi’s side, but the ghosts of the whole season reappeared in Extremadura. In the 80th minute, when Barça tried to control the match in the final rush, a corner kick ended with Xemi kicking the ball in at the second post to make it 2-2 and take it to overtime.
The extra time was absolutely dominated by Barça B against a very tired Murcia, but neither Peque nor Manaj managed to score any of the occasions they had. UCAM didn’t generate too much, but Peña was imperial saving a couple of set pieces, which already indicated what would come during the penalty shootout.
After reaching the end of the 120 minutes, everything would be decided in the final lottery. In it, Iñaki Peña went on to stop four penalties out of the 9 that each team took. Peña saved the same as Biel Rivas, with the only difference that Rey Manaj sent the fifth penalty far over the goal, which if he had scored would have meant the end of the suffering with blaugrana victory.
Unfortunately, Konrad missed the first penalty, then Peque and Manaj, and in the sudden death also Oriol Busquets and Ramos Mingo. Iñaki Peña saved his team’s life on several occasions, but ultimately failed to give the victory to his team. Barça B stays on the doorstep of promotion, but will continue to compete and form players in the 1st RFEF during the 2021/22 season.
