Barcelona managed to come in victorious against Real Betis, courtesy of Marc Andre Ter Stegen’s Penalty Shootout Heroics. Spanish Super Cup final went up to the extra time since the scores were 1-1 by the end of the fulltime. Even though Ansu Fati managed to score a screamer, Moron Garcia’s reply goal led the game to extra time. Without further ado, here are the Match Awards of FC Barcelona vs Real Betis.
BarcelonaLatest Match awards are named as follows, showing respect to few of the Barcelona Legends.
- Best Player of the Opposition – “Mutual Respect”
- Best Defender – “El Tiburón” (Carles Puyol)
- Best Midfielder – “El Cerebro” (Iniesta)
- Best Forward – “El Pistolero” (Luis Suarez)
- Player of the Match – “La Pulga” (Leo Messi)
.
Barcelona vs Real Betis Match Previews
Mutual Respect – Nabil Fekir
Attacking Midfielder Nabir Fekir had an amazing game yesterday against Barcelona, adding 1 goal to his account. Fekir created 5 chances with an accurate pass rate of 91% (40/44). The French midfielder was always causing trouble to Barcelona defence with his swinging corner kicks and crosses.
always causing trouble to Barcelona defence with his swinging corner kicks and crosses.
In the 22nd minute, Nabir Fekir got a golden opportunity to open the score sheet due to an error caused in the defence by Jules Kounde. However, Araujo’s strong physical defence stopped the Frenchman from scoring.
77th minute clever fake shot from Brazilian Luiz Henrique managed to lure 3 Barca players inside the box and his pass to Fekir created their 1st Goal. It was a great game for the talented Real Betis midfielder even though he couldn’t manage to end up on the winning side.
El Tiburón – Jules Kounde
Two Barcelona center backs played a decent game today even though Betis created a few chances. Jules Kounde and Araujo both showed fighting character on the pitch playing the whole 120 minutes.
Kounde managed to play 8 passes in Betis’s final third while maintaining a 91% passing rate (68/75). French defender cleared the ball 7 times in the match including 4 headed clearances. Moreover, he had 6 recoveries and 2 interceptions in the game.
El Cerebro – Pedri
Finally, Xavi decided to go with the “Dream Midfield “of most of the culers by playing Gavi, Pedri and Frenkie De Jong. Even though Sergio Busquets was benched this time, around the 60th mark, Barcelona manager was itching to bring his old friend back to the pitch 🙂
Among all the midfielders today, the 2021 Golden Boy outshined others, including the 2022 Golden Boy. Young Pedri Gonzalez maintained his world-class quality throughout the whole 120 minutes. Finally, he ended up the game, by creating the route for another El Classico Final with his match-winning penalty.
Pedri recorded a stunning number of 106 passes with a success rate of 90%. He created 1 key chance in the match with 15 passes in the final third. Actually, Pedri was the 1st to break the cobwebs of Betis net in the 23rd minute. But unfortunately, it was ruled out by VAR due to Raphinha’s offside assist.
Pedri was named MOTM. Congratulations! pic.twitter.com/69SHPWCYdj
— Barça Universal (@BarcaUniversal) January 12, 2023
El Pistolero – Robert Lewandowski
Robert Lewangoalski (Credits: T. Muller) took his revenge yesterday with a hard-fought 1st half-goal. Sadly the victims were Real Betis this time, not the LaLiga officials. Lewandowski played the whole game including the extra time. Also, he was able to score the crucial opening penalty in the shootout.
Polish striker had 4 shots, 4 passed in the Betis final third including 1 key pass. After the 40th minute goal, Lewandowski thought he had the brace after a good strike into the back of the net in the 81st half. But unfortunately, it was ruled out by VAR resulting in the 2nd Barca disallowed goal.
La Pulga – Marc Andre Ter Stegen
Ter Stergen displayed a match saving performance throughout the game including 4 majestic diving saves. He also managed to make 5 accurate long balls out of 7 tries with 6 recoveries.
In the 32nd minute, Pezzella made a good header shot from an in-swinging corner from Nabir Fekir. But the quick reactions of Ter Stergen prevented Pezzella from scoring. Again, in the 45th minute Mats made a brilliant save, blocking Luiz Henrique’s left-footed shot to the bottom left corner.
.
Why not watch our player of the Match’s Penalty Shootout heroics again?
Credits: Noble Highlights YouTube
.
We are planning to continue this brand new “BarcelonaLatest Match Award” series for each game Barcelona plays.
Please leave your Feedbacks on this new series, so we can improve it further 🙂
Good one 🙌🏻