Until Real Madrid gets up to speed, the main rivalry in the Primera División is Barcelona versus Atlético Madrid. This is the clash that often decides who wins the league title, as these two have won eight of the last nine, the one exception being Athletic Club in 2016.
With the plethora of talent at his disposal, the line-ups of Lluís Cortés always have a ton of intrigue. It’s easy to get it right, but get it wrong and the narrative can quickly shift to confusion about his selection. Playing in the regular 4-3-3, the manager went with Jenni Hermoso up top between Mariona Caldentey and Caroline Graham Hansen. The midfield trio consisted of Alexia Putellas, wearing the captain’s armband, Aitana Bonmatí and Patricia Guijarro.
The back four of Leila Ouahabi, Mapi León, Andrea Pereira and Marta Torrejón is nothing new, but filling in for Sandra Paños was 19-year-old Cata Coll, making the fifth start of her Barcelona career, having featured in 16 matches last season for Sevilla. With the exception of the U-17 Women’s World Cup final (a victory) and the UEFA U-17 Championship Final (another victory), this was the biggest match of her young career.
The teenage Spanish keeper was tested early when Marta Torrejón conceded a penalty in the seventh minute. Yet, Cata Coll came up huge against former Femení forward Toni Duggan, guessing the right way and pushing the ball wide.
Up to that point in the match, the opponent from Madrid had dominated play. The penalty save might have been the wake-up call the Blaugrana needed, as they finally found a rhythm in the contest midway through the first half.
That improved play was rewarded with the first goal of the game off a through ball to Patricia Guijarro, who finished past the keeper from an incredibly tight angle. Truthfully, the keeper’s positioning should have been better and the defender on the near post should have been able to clear the ball. Yet, a goal is a goal and from that point on it was all Barcelona.
The Femení got their second goal just four minutes later when they won their own penalty, which Jenni Hermoso slotted home. From that point on the Catalans continued to take the air out of the Atlético sail and there wasn’t much their opponent could do about it.
A team this talented gets even better with a lead, especially when the likes of Asisat Oshoala and Lieke Martens, players that would start this match with almost any other team in the world, are available to come off the bench. Add to that list Kheira Hamraoui, and the depth for the Femení explains why they don’t give up leads easily.
Culers could be delighted by some individual brilliance in the second half, including a picture-perfect-counter-attack-stopping tackle from Hamraoui, and this ridiculous pass from Alexia Putellas:
Martens got the third of the game off the feed from Caroline Graham Hansen, controlling and turning in one motion to put herself directly in the path of the goal.
The win makes it 10 consecutive clean sheets and gives the team first place in the standings, with two matches in hand on Atlético and Granadilla Tenerife. Next up is Eibar up in the Basque Country on November 15th.
Dan Hilton is an American journalist, broadcaster, and current Editor-in-Chief of BarcaBlog. Extensive work as a play-by-play broadcaster, producer behind the scenes, and quite average player in his younger years has given him a well-rounded and informative perspective on the sport. Alongside BarcaBlog founder Francesc, Dan started The Barcelona Podcast in 2017.
