Barça overcomes toothache on special occasion for Johan
The Blaugranas beat Valencia, the bottom team in the F League, in the 100th match at the Sant Joan Despí stadium
BarcelonaAfter thrashing Real Madrid in the first leg of the Copa de la Reina semi-finals, Barça have beaten Valencia in the 100th match they have played at the Johan Cruyff stadium. The bottom club in the F League, who already caused trouble for the Blaugranas because they could only beat them by a narrow 0-1 at Mestalla in the first leg, have returned to fight back.
Pere Romeu has applied rotations, but with a starting eleven with outstanding figures from the team, such as Alexia Putellas, who has scored her 52nd goal in a match at the Johan, being the top scorer at the home of the Blaugranas, and Ewa Pajor, the team's reference striker. The Pole, who had just scored a hat-trick against Real Madrid, has found the net again.
After a heartfelt minute's silence in tribute to Carles Miñarro at the Blaugrana stadium, attended by 3,967 spectators, Barça started off as expected: absolute monopoly of ball possession and circling the opponent's area. But Valencia, with a very defensive approach, managed to do what no one could have imagined: start the scoring.
Valencia's surprise is over in a flash
In an isolated counterattack play in the 15th minute, Phoenetia Browne protected the ball well with her back to assist Marina Martí in her run, and she surprised Gemma Font by beating Marta Torrejón in the run, first, and with a cutback, later, and connecting with a shot that, unintentionally, was saved by Irene Pared.
The joy didn't last long for the Valencian team. In less than five minutes, Alexia Putellas collected a rebound in the heart of the area to tie the game. The equaliser gave the Blaugranas a boost, and Kika Nazareth, who started today, put Barça ahead and confirmed that Valencia's goal had only been a scare.
The score was 2-1 at half-time. After the restart, with the work done, Barça continued to attack. Thus, Pajor scored the third and Aitana Bonmatí scored the fourth, in the closing stages, after a very aesthetic control and finish. The Blaugranas did not allow Valencia to be a pain in the neck on a special occasion in Johan.
