Barcelona could not have expected a better way to finish the stage of the UEFA Champions League League.
While Hansi Flick’s men launched two points against Atalanta last night, finished second in the classification and were only marginally behind Liverpool that lost against PSV. If the Catalans had taken three points against Atalanta, they would be exclusive leaders.
The costumes will not read too much in the second final, especially given the dominant way in which they returned from the defeat to As Monaco in the Match-Day 1.
The burning attack
Barcelona’s success so far in the Champions League has been reduced to better performances throughout the park. The strikers, however, deserve the greatest credit and the goal difference of the team says a lot.
Flick’s men finished the stage of the League with 28 impressive goals scored, six goals before the next team of higher score Borussia Dortmund.
His exceptional attack performance was insurmountable, since they took home huge victories against Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Benfica with Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha, particularly burning.
The Polish striker finished the stage of the League as the top scorer with nine goals in his name, and Raphinha followed him closely with eight chasing.
In terms of assists, the Brazilian was there once again with four in his name, only surpassed by Charles de Ketetaere, who had five. He scored a hat-trick against Bayern Munich, an orthopedic device against Benfica and accumulated two assists last night against Atalanta.
After five years of consecutive humiliations in Europe, Barcelona finally returned as one of the favorites in the event and this could be his year.
However, the road to the trophy will be anything but simple from now on, and the manager will need his strikers to be in the best way in the knockouts. The priority, however, will be to fix the defense.