Ronald Alexanko saved Barça from the crisis

It was a strange match, one of those that are lived with the heart in the throat: it started dominating, asked for the hour at halftime, and needed Flick to play the role of Cruyff and Araujo, the role of Alexanko, to rescue three points that could mark a before and after. Because yes, sometimes even the greatest resorts to a center-back to resolve a match. And nothing happens.

Watch out for what Flick proposed from the start: against all odds, Rashford played on the left and Toni Fernández was the false nine. Frenkie acted as an attacking midfielder, Èric García on the left, and Cubarsí on the right. Change everything so that everything remained the same.

The start was a monologue. Lamine to Pedri, and Pedri, a snail among lettuces, stopped time and placed it out of Gazzaniga´s reach. The first quarter of an hour of Barça-Girona should be used as a synonym for absolute dominance. Everything, of course, amid the deafening silence of Montjuïc, turned into a theme park for confused ‘guiris’. The ‘spoti’ will be worse.

But the idyll lasted little. Witsel scored a stunning bicycle kick and the stadium reacted timidly with shouts of “Barça! Barça!”. If not then, when? Girona, far from giving up, responded with two one-on-ones: first Vanat, then Portu, who hit the post. Barça was breathing, but just barely.

Halftime was urgent. The team was getting disorganized, Szczesny was avoiding disaster, and whistles began to fall from the stands. It started to rain. The field, a wasteland. The ‘guiris’, of course, had come to seek the sun.

At halftime, Flick moved pieces: Fermín came in for Toni Fernández and the sun seemed to return. Fermín tried twice, once hitting the post, and Lamine forced another great save from Gazzaniga. Something was stirring in the air. Cubarsí scored from a corner, but Gil Manzano disallowed it for an alleged foul by Èric García. It was time to keep rowing.

Barça insisted. Gazzaniga stopped everything, and neither the referee nor VAR wanted to know anything about a clear slap on Rashford. “Play, play,” as always, that only gets reviewed at the Bernabéu… if it suits the usual ones.

And then Flick took a gamble. Araujo as a forward. Survival football. The German protested the ridiculous four minutes of added time, and the referee sent him off. But nothing prevented Ronald ‘Alexanko’ Araujo from appearing in stoppage time to finish the match and free Barça from the abyss. Flick celebrated with rage, including a butifarrón.

Barça won. Not with brilliance, but with pride. And perhaps, just perhaps, with this epic blow, they have ignited a spark.