Defender shines, Barcelona comes from behind to win at home in Champions League

(NLDO) – Defender Jules Koundé scored two goals within just a few minutes, helping Barcelona come from behind to defeat Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League group stage.

Barcelona's inconsistent performance brought heart-stopping situations to fans, despite "La Blaugrana" playing at home at Nou Camp to welcome opponents with very poor form, Eintracht Frankfurt.

A bad day for the home team's strikers.

Playing at home, Barcelona started the game very proactively. Coach Hansi Flick's team pressed the field, almost suffocating Frankfurt from the first minutes. In the 10th minute, Robert Lewandowski seemed to have opened the score with a beautiful volley, but the goal was disallowed after VAR determined an offside. Not long after, Gerard Martín tried his luck from outside the box, forcing goalkeeper Michael Zetterer to make a difficult save.

Fermin Lopez made no impact in the first 45 minutes of the match.

Attacking a lot but not scoring, Barcelona had to pay the price as an "unwritten" rule in football. In the 21st minute, from a pass that tore through Nathaniel Brown's defense, Ansgar Knauff broke through, used his strength to get past the home team's defenders and then fired a low shot, defeating Barcelona goalkeeper Joan García. A surprising 1-0 for the away team.

Ansgar Knauff unexpectedly opened the scoring for Eintracht Frankfurt.

Despite conceding a goal, Barcelona still maintained the initiative, but their final moves lacked precision. Frankfurt focused especially on blocking Lamine Yamal, often using two players to mark this young talent, making Barça's attacks less effective.

Lamine Yamal had a tough time against the Bundesliga representative's defense.

Despite Pedri and Raphinha's efforts to unsettle the opposition defence, the Bundesliga side held firm. Before the end of the first half, Knauff continued to make his mark by setting up Ellyes Skhiri, but the midfielder's shot went just wide of the crossbar.

At the start of the second half, Frankfurt even had two consecutive dangerous chances, showing they weren't just sitting back in defense. Conversely, Raphinha squandered a golden opportunity from a cross by Marcus Rashford – who had just come on as a substitute.

Marcus Rashford came on and made a difference.

However, Frankfurt could not hold on. In the 56th minute, Rashford sent in a perfect cross for Jules Koundé to head home the equalizer, making it 1-1. Just two minutes later, the French midfielder repeated the same scenario, this time from a pass from Lamine Yamal, to complete his double, giving Barcelona a 2-1 lead as the visitors' defense stood still.

Jules Kounde scored two goals with headers in quick succession within two minutes.

For the rest of the match, Barcelona controlled the game, while Frankfurt could only rely on long balls for luck. No more goals were scored and the home team ended the match with a hard-fought victory.

Kounde took over the goal-scoring duties of Barcelona's forwards.

Statistics show that this season Barça have been particularly "explosive" after the break, with 10/14 goals scored in the Champions League coming in the second half, while 12/14 of Frankfurt's most recent goals conceded have also fallen in this period - a scenario that continued to repeat itself in the early morning match of December 10.

Barcelona are confident of securing direct qualification through the Champions League qualifying rounds.

Barcelona have yet to break into the Top 8 to qualify directly for the next round, however, they can improve their performance if they play well in the remaining two rounds of the qualifying round.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/hau-ve-toa-sang-barcelona-nguoc-dong-gianh-chien-thang-san-nha-o-champions-league-196251210064108094.htm