13’ Barça B 0-1 Castilla: Nico Paz (assist: Álvaro Martín).
19’ Barça B 1-1 Castilla: Chadi Riad (assist: Moha Moukhliss).
44’ Barça B 2-1 Castilla: Roberto Fernández (assist: Luismi Cruz).
68’ Barça B 2-2 Castilla: Carlos Dotor (assist: Álvaro Martín).
76’ Barça B 3-2 Castilla: Luismi Cruz (assist: Aleix Garrido).
80’ Barça B 4-2 Castilla: Luismi Cruz (assist: Moha Moukhliss).
Castilla starting XI: Luis López – Pablo Ramón, Álvaro Carrillo, Rafa Marín, Marvel, Rafel Obrador – Mario Martín, Carlos Dotor, Álvaro Martín – Nico Paz, Álvaro Rodríguez.
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On the bench: Lucas Cañizares, Vinícius Tobias, Edgar Pujol, Javier Villar, Manuel Ángel, Álvaro Leiva, Óscar Aranda, Gonzalo and Iker Bravo.
Before the game
Raúl went into the game without several key players: The team’s star, Sergio Arribas, is still injured and could be out for the season. The same goes for first-choice goalkeeper Mario de Luís. Peter Federico, who picked up his fifth yellow card against Algeciras, and Theo Zidane, who was sent off, were both suspended for this match.
Regarding the starting eleven, Raúl’s choices were more or less expected, but many will have raised their eyebrows at seeing Pablo Ramón at right-back ahead of Vinícius Tobias. This is a solution that hasn’t been tried many times during the season, but Raúl gave a hint by starting him there in the last league game against Algeciras. Up top, Nico Paz got another chance along with Álvaro Rodríguez.
First half
The first goal of the game came after 13 minutes. Álvaro Martín, who just before had received a nasty stamp and was lucky to escape a serious injury, carried the ball nicely through the middle. He released it perfectly to Nico Paz, who clearly didn’t want to shoot with his right foot. Instead, he feinted away an opponent and placed the ball beautifully into the far corner. 1-0 to Castilla.
However, the lead would not last long. In the 18th minute, Barcelona attacked down the left and Pablo Ramón conceded a free kick from outside the 16-yard box. Mario Martín was sloppy in his marking, allowing Chadi Riad to easily head home the equalizer for the home team.
After the goal, Castilla were the better team, despite Barcelona having 61% possession. However, they were punished when Marvel inattentively lost the ball in a dangerous area. Barcelona didn’t let the opportunity pass, and Roberto Fernández scored the 2-1 goal for the Catalans.
Second half
Castilla needed some time to fight back, but managed to do so after 64 minutes. Álvaro Martín combined with Nico Paz beautifully, and the former got inside Barcelona’s 16-yard box. The Spaniard was clearly held and the referee pointed to the penalty spot. Carlos Dotor stepped up to take the penalty, but had to wait quite a long time to shoot due to the home fans throwing things onto the pitch. The Castilla captain was unfazed, however, and confidently slotted the penalty in.
Barcelona went straight into attack and almost capitalized on a mistake from Álvaro Carrillo, but Luis López made a great save. A few minutes later, Barcelona came on another attack, this time after capitalizing on a mistake from Álvaro Martín, who had been among the best on the pitch so far. The ball was pushed out to Luismi Cruz, who amazingly chipped the ball over Luis López. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop there, as the same player repeated the success just a few minutes later from the same position, only this time curling the ball into the top corner.
Not much more happened in the match, except that it eventually became quite heated. Among other things, Barcelona’s Alex Carbonell was very lucky to avoid a red card after a nasty tackle on Castilla’s substitute Gonzalo García. Unfortunately, Castilla were unable to bounce back from the blow and the match ended 4-2 to the home team.
Castilla will have the advantage of playing the return leg at home at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stéfano. That match will be played on Sunday, June 11 at 20:00 CEST, 02:00 pm EST. The winning team will face either Celta B or Eldense in the final, which will also consist of two legs.
