Doubt hung over FC Barcelona like a storm cloud ready to burst. Slapped by AtlĂ©tico de Madrid in the Copa del Rey then overthrown by Girona in La Liga, the Catalan giant approached this 25th day with the obligation to respond, sportingly… and nervously. Facing him, a moribund Levante, led by Luis Castro and still marked by his defeat against Villarreal. On paper, everything seemed written in advance. On the ground too, very quickly. Aligned in 4-3-3 by Hansi Flick, with JoĂŁo Cancelo, Robert Lewandowski, Lamine Yamal, Raphinha and Dani Olmo as offensive spearheads, Barça stifled the suspense, at least that of the match. Because another, more discreet but much more intriguing, was already beginning to emerge behind the scenes.
The tone was set in the 4th minute when Eric GarcĂa took advantage of a ball deflected by Marc Bernal to deceive Mathew Ryan. Then in the 32nd minute, Frenkie de Jong doubled the lead on a precise serve from Cancelo. Barça rolled on, outrageously dominating possession, accelerating whenever they wanted, as if the pressure of the last few days had suddenly evaporated. The entry of Pedri, Ferran Torres and FermĂn LĂłpez in the second half did not change anything with this total mastery, this technical authority, and this third goal signed by LĂłpez to seal a clear victory (3-0). While the Catalans regained the lead in the championship, taking advantage of Real Madrid’s misstep against Osasuna, the stadium enjoyed. But at the edge of the field, a tiny, almost invisible detail would soon cause a lot of noise.
Lamine Yamal’s frustration singled out
Because Barça’s perfect evening was almost eclipsed by a furtive scene: the closed face of Lamine Yamal at the time of his exit. Replaced in the final minutes, the Rocafonda prodigy returned to the bench without masking his frustration, even avoiding the gaze of his coach. A moment of tension captured by the cameras, amplified by the networks, and immediately transformed into the start of a media soap opera. Questioned twice after the meeting, Flick calmed things down with calculated serenity: “Was he angry at his performance? It’s normal, the most important thing is that we won and that we have players who deserve to play“. Before adding, almost annoyed by the insistence: “You all attach a lot of importance to everything Lamine does, I have no problem with this reaction, he is human“. Simple words that nevertheless leave room for doubt.
Officially, the club closed the file as quickly as it opened. Internally, we insist on a normal reaction of a frustrated competitor, according to the newspaper Sport. Hansi Flick preferred to divert the light towards the collective performance and towards JoĂŁo Cancelo, whom he described as ” fantastic “. However, in the corridors of the stadium, certain Catalan journalists did not fail to note that the German coach had carefully avoided any contact with his winger at the time of the change, as specified Sport. Coincidence or calculated management of a growing ego? Hard to say. One thing is certain. While Real Madrid have fallen, Barça is enjoying its leadership position, the Yamal episode has perhaps not delivered its final twist. And in the Catalan capital, we know that the most improbable controversies are often those that last the longest.
