Three takeaways from CD Guadalajara 0-2 Barcelona

Barcelona survived the eternally nerve-wracking Copa del Rey curtain raiser on Tuesday night as they defeated CD Guadalajara 2-0 in a tricky away fixture.

The game was held at the Estadio Pedro Escartin which had a capacity of just a few thousand fans, but the atmosphere inside was daunting with the crowd relentlessly cheering for their side to pull off an upset.

It took Barcelona a long time to even find the opener, but after over an hour of patient play, they found the breakthrough when Frenkie de Jong and Andreas Christensen combined for the Danish international’s header.

Marcus Rashford secured the victory late on in the game, doubling Barcelona’s lead with a finish from a tight angle.

Barça Universal brings you three takeaways from CD Guadalajara 0-2 Barcelona .

While Barcelona may have been favourites on paper, history served as testament that the discrepancy would not reflect on the field in their first Copa del Rey game. That indeed turned out to be the case.

CD Guadalajara may be a team in the RFEF Primera Federacion division who are struggling for form, but they came out with their best game for 90 minutes against Barcelona in what was perhaps the biggest game in their club’s history.

They did not dominate possession, nor did they make any attempt to. What they did, however, was follow their manager’s plan to a T – defend deep and hit on the counter-attack.

The low block with two defensive lines in the box frustrated Hansi Flick’s side for most of the game, and understandably so, as the Guadalajara area was filled with defenders and suffocated any Catalan presence.

The first half ended goalless without Barcelona seeing too many clear-cut chances. Every shot, after all, seemed to hit and take a deflection off a defender and the fact that Barcelona had to wait until the 70th minute for the opener proved how well drilled the hosts were.

Christensen had a brilliant game. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

For a team of Barcelona’s quality, the opening goal against Guadalajara was always coming and it was only a question of when and whose feet it would come off.

In the end, however, the goal came from one of the most unexpected sources – Andreas Christensen – and it could not be more deserved .

The Danish star has not been used extensively by Flick this season despite being technically superior to many options in the squad, and last night gave him a chance to show the manager why he does not deserve to be overlooked.

Starting and playing 86 minutes on the night, the centre-back provided a very reassuring performance that will undoubtedly have caught Flick’s eye.

There was indeed not much defending to do against Guadalajara’s attack, but Christensen was calm, composed and risk-free with his calculated and accurate interceptions. His distribution was phenomenal and he even held up the offside trap with perfection.

In 86 minutes, he made eight defensive contributions, including one last man tackle, two interceptions, three clearances and won six duels.

The headed goal he scored to give Barcelona the lead, needless to say, capped off a perfect night that demands more prominence for the player.

Given the high stakes and low-ranked opposition, Tuesday’s game was all about striking the right balance been mainstays and rotation players for Hansi Flick, and he managed to tick most boxes with perfect planning.

The starting lineup appeared queer on paper and did not seem to have any clear structure to it, but it was clear that the point was just to rest the big names and get 45 minutes out of the way without taking any hits.

For starters, Marc-Andre Ter Stegen started in goal for the first time this season, with Joan Garcia resting the entire 90 minutes.

Pau Cubarsi, Gerard Martin, Jules Kounde and Alejandro Balde all started on the bench, giving the defensive mainstays a break and fielding a new look backline with Marc Casado, Eric Garcia, Christensen and Jofre Torrents.

Marc Bernal got a start in midfield and played 45 minutes, continuing his return to match fitness with valuable minutes. Meanwhile, Frenkie de Jong also started for Barcelona after five games.

In attack, Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Ferran Torres were all rested with the manager trusting Marcus Rashford , Lamine Yamal and Roony Bardghji. Essentially, Flick handed most of the fringe players a chance while limiting his big names’ participation significantly.

The only failure one can point out was fielding Yamal for the full 90 minutes – something that could have been avoided. Nonetheless, he will have his break for Christmas and in Barcelona’s next UCL game. for which he is suspended.