Barca froze Slavia with four goals in below zero temperatures
Reading Time: 3min | Thu. 22.01.26. | 07:30
The Catalans were sloppy in defense but still managed a 4-2 win in Prague
It was -6 degrees in Prague where Slavia and Barcelona played their Champions League game and the northern wind wasn‘t helping the guests, who are accustomed to the mild temperatures in Catalonia. They were clumsy and allowed two goals from a team which managed to score only two in the previous six matches. But in the end, the pure quality prevailed and along with excellent substitutions by Barca coach Hansi Flick, the guests managed a 4-2 win. Still, they are one place away from the eight place which leads directly into the elimination round and apart from a must-win against Copenhagen in the last round, they will depend on other results.
Fermin Lopez was the man of the match with two goals and Marcus Rashford helped too. Manchester United loanee has been involved in eight goals in his last nine UEFA Champions League appearances, scoring four and assisting four. In this game, he came off the bench to assist and rise his numbers to five assist, making this season his best in the Champions League since 2020. On the other side were Raphinha and Lewandowski, who were below their standards (especially the Brazilian) and the Pole even managed to score and own goal in the first half. He made up for that with the third one for Barcelona but his overall performance was average at best.
The match just started and it was already 1-0, but not for Barcelona. Slavia had a corner kick from the left, several players went for the ball, and Kusej ended up putting it into the goal with a lot of luck, with De Jong just standing near him. Slavia kept on pressing and it wasn‘t until 30th minute that Barcelona finally took over. Eric Garcia had a long shot which ended up as a corner and then Fermin Lopez scored one of his two goals tonight. It was a poor reaction from the Sparta keeper Jindrich Stanek, who allowed a goal to his closer side. Eight minutes later, Barcelona turned the game completely with another Fermin goal but this time it was a beauty to the bottom right where Stanek couldn‘t reach the ball. But Robert Lewandowski made sure that the game remains interesting with an own goal in the 44th minute. Again it was a corner and Lewandowski was clumsy in his own area and tricked Garcia for 2-2.
Barcelona scored in the 52nd minute, but after a VAR check, it was ruled out as offside. Hansi Flick made two great substitutions in the 61st minute as both Rashford and Olmo came in. Just three minutes later, Olmo‘s volley brought Barcelona the lead again and in the 70th minute it was all over when Rashford crossed the ball from the left where Lewandowski scored (with a bit of luck) for 4-2.
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 7
Tuesday
Kairat Almaty - Club Brugge 1-4 (0-2)
/Sadybekov 90+2 - Stankovic 32, Vanaken 38, Vermant 74, Mechele 84/
Bodo/Glimt - Manchester City 3-1 (2-0)
/Hogh 22, 24, Hauge 58 - Cherki 60/
Copenhagen - Napoli 1-1 (0-1)
/Larsson 72 - McTominay 39/
Inter Milan - Arsenal 1-3 (1-2)
/Sucic 18 - Jesus 10, 31, Gyokeres 84/
Real Madrid - Monaco 6-1 (2-0)
/Mbappe 5, 26, Mastantuono 51, Kehrer 55 og, Vinicius Jr 63, Bellingham 81 - Teze 72/
Olympiacos - Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 (2-0)
/Costinha 2, Taremi 45+1/
Sporting Lisbon - PSG 2-1 (0-0)
/Suarez 74, 90+1 - Kvaratskhelia 79/
Tottenham - Dortmund 2-0 (2-0)
/Romero 14, Solanke 37/
Villarreal - Ajax 1-2 (0-0)
/Oluwaseyi 49 - Gloukh 61, Edvardsen 90/
Wednesday
Galatasaray - Atletico Madrid 1-1 (1-1)
/Llorente 20 og - Simeone 4/
Qarabag - Eintracht Frankfurt 3-2 (1-1)
/Duran 4, 80, Mustafazade 90+4 - Uzun 11, Chaibi 78 pen/
Atalanta - Ath.Bilbao 2-3 (1-0)
/Scamacca 16, Krstovic 88 - Guruzeta 58, Serrano 70, Navarro 74/
Bayern - St.Gilloise 2-0 (0-0)
/Kane 52 (p) 55 (p)/
Chelsea - Paphos 1-0 (0-0)
/Caicedo 78/
Juventus - Benfica 2-0 (0-0)
/Thuram 55, McKennie 64/
Newcastle - PSV 3-0 (2-0)
/Wissa 8, Gordon 30, Barnes 65/
Olympique Marseille - Liverpool 0-3 (0-1)
/Szoboszlai 45+1, Rulli 72(og), Gakpo 90+2/
Slavia Praha - Barcelona 2-4 (2-2)
/Fermin 34, 42, Olmo 63, Lewandowski 70 - Kušej 10, Lewandowski (og) 44/
