Barcelona have temporarily opened up a seven-point lead at the top of the _La Liga_ table and remain in control of the title race thanks to a hard-fought 2-1 win away to relegated Real Valladolid at the _José Zorrilla_ Stadium on Saturday night. A heavily rotated Barça side struggled to start and went into halftime down 1-0 to the worst team in the league, but dominated the second half and found the two goals they needed to earn three crucial points ahead of next weekend’s title-deciding _El Clásico_.
**FIRST HALF**
Hansi Flick made nine changes to the team that started against Inter Milan in midweek, and the lack of chemistry and continuity was evident at the beginning when Barça looked disjoined on both ends and were made to pay for it: Valladolid earned a corner that was cleared but eventually found Iván Sánchez on the right wing, and his shot deflected off Ronald Arauj’s leg and went over the head of Marc-André ter Stegen and into the net to give the home team the lead just six minutes into the action.
The hosts settled into a very deep 5-4-1 shape designed to deny spaces and try to give their awful defense a chance to protect their lead, and they were helped in the first 20 minutes by a Barça side that played safe and moved the ball backwards and sideways without creating any real trouble.
But they eventually started to play faster and take more chances, and created two huge opportunities on a header by Pau Víctor and a shot by Ansu Fati that required a couple of brilliant saves by Valladolid goalkeeper André Ferreira. Barça had all of the ball and started to put real pressure, but couldn’t convert their chances and failed to equalize.
Then came a sad moment when winger Dani Rodríguez, who was making his first team debut, dislocated his shoulder trying to push off against a Valladolid defender and was forced to leave the pitch immediately. Lamine Yamal came on in his place and was a dangerous presence on the wing, but the teenager was frustrated at the end of the period as his team couldn’t find the net.
The halftime whistle came to end a first half in which Barça started slowly and conceded a strange goal, but their strong finish to the period provided hope that they could find the winning goals in the second half.
**SECOND HALF**
Flick made two more changes at halftime, sending on Raphinha for Ansu Fati and replacing Pedri with Frenkie de Jong in what was most likely a planned substitution before the game to give both of his two starting midfielders 45 minutes of rest.
The _Blaugrana_ had a stronger look to their lineup with the substitutions, and continued to apply pressure to begin the second half looking for a quick equalizer. And they didn’t need to wait long to find it: Yamal sent a cross into the box looking for Ronald Araujo, and Ferreira cleared it straight to Raphinha who fired it home with his right foot to make it all square just 10 minutes in.
And five minutes after that the comeback was completed: a nice, long passing sequence ended with a perfect pass by Gerard Martín into the box and a great finish by Fermín López with his left foot to put the _Blaugrana_ ahead at the hour mark.
The Catalans continued to attack to try and put the game away and had some big chances to score a third, with Héctor Fort hitting the post and Yamal having a certain goal cleared off the line by Antonio Candela. Valladolid managed to survive and had a huge chance to equalize on the other end, but Ter Stegen made a strong save to deny Juanmi Latasa from close range.
We reached the final minutes with the game still not decided, and Valladolid had a couple of dangerous counter-attacks in added time that required big interventions from Araujo and Ter Stegen. But Barça managed to run out the clock without conceding a late equalizer, and the final whistle came to give them all three points.
Barça suffered a little more than they should against the worst team in the league, but considering all the changes and just how crucial the three points were, you can forgive the team for not putting on a show.
We move on to a season-defining week against Inter Milan and Real Madrid, and all the big names will be well-rested and ready for two gigantic games. Well done, boys!
**Valladolid**: Ferreira; Anuar (Amath 64’), Candela, Cömert, Özkacar, Aznou; Sánchez (Chuki 72’), Juric (Martín 85’), Amallah (Grillitsch 72’), Moro; Sylla (Latasa 64’)
Goal: _Sánchez (6’)_
**Barcelona**: Ter Stegen; Fort, Araujo, Christensen, Martín; Gavi (Eric 79’), Pedri (De Jong 46’); Rodríguez (Yamal 38’), Fermín, Fati (Raphinha 46’); Víctor (Olmo 62’)
Goals: _Raphinha (54’), Fermín (60’)_