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Barcelona led twice against Atalanta last night in the final round of the UEFA Champions League group and were in the driver’s seat to finish first in the classification.
However, they admitted both occasions, allowing the side of the series to match and take a point home in the full -time whistle.
Credit where it is owed, Atalanta was the most inspired of the two teams in Montjuic, simply because they needed the victory more badly. They had the dream of directly qualifying the 16 round, but finally they fell short, since they earned only one point.
For Barcelona, Lamine Yamal and Ronald Araujo were on the score sheet and the manager will not look too deeply in the result since it was never the priority.
Universal Barça It brings you three conclusions for the Hansi movie of Barcelona 2-2 Atalanta.
A draw that does not mean much
After six consecutive victories in the UEFA Champions League, Barcelona settle for a 2-2 draw against Atalanta on the last day of the competition stage.
The Catalans were firmly in second place in the classification given their comfortable goal difference and the only objective that could point the night was to overcome Liverpool if the points fall.
In fact, the Premier League giants fell to a 2-3 defeat against PSV Eindhoven and Barcelona would have occupied the first place with a victory last night.
However, there is not much to regret when one considers the broader scheme of things, since ending first does not provide any advantage over the finish in second place.
Both Barcelona and Liverpool will now enter the opposite halves of the raffle and can only meet in a possible end. The rest of the raffle, to a large extent, will not be affected by the teams placed first and second and the path of the Catalans towards a potential ending is not affected.
Implications in the future
After having finished in the Top 2 of the classification of the stage of the League, Barcelona and Liverpool they will face one of the four teams located between 15 and 18 depending on the raffle and the result of the playoffs.
Those four teams will now sit with each other, with PSG and Benfica facing Monaco or Brest, respectively, and the winners of each playoffs proceed to the round of 16.
To begin with, Hansi Flick and Co. will be happy to have avoided the giants at Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the next round, especially since it seemed extremely plausible before the beginning.
However, more interesting is the fact that Barcelona faced and defeated three of Knockout’s four potential opponents in the league phase. The only team they did not know about the four was the PSG.
In addition, the draw ensures that Barcelona avoids the tastes of Atlético de Madrid, the Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Arsenal to a possible semifinal.
Until then, its only possible formidable opponents include Borussia Dortmund, Atalanta, PSG and Aston Villa.
SZCZESNY MIXED NIGHT
You can say a lot about the individual performances of players who wear garnet and blue last night.
The Catalans lacked an emergency feeling in the first half, they left much better after the break, but did not press with everything at any time of the night.
However, a player whose performance has been under the radar is Wojciech Szczesny and ironically, since Hansi Flick only made his decision to prefer the Polish shot before the clash of the previous night.
Szczesny came up with some clutch salvations against Atalanta to keep Barcelona in the game during the first half. His reflexes were impressive, as well as his raw ability to stop.
However, their comfort in the ball and distribution were very worrying and not for the first time. As a goalkeeper of Barcelona, having composure in possession can be more important than the ability to stop.
Szczesny seemed unstable in the ball from the beginning, fought to play from behind he often gave the ball at a low price through its distribution. It did not seem composed under the press of Atalanta strikers and questions must be asked.
His performance last night has brought fans calling the return of Inaki Pena, who may not be a great clutch bag, but a massive update in terms of ball capacity. It remains to be seen where the film is on this subject.
