Barça Femení, Expectations, and Winter Breaks - Necessary and Crushing
In the face of a full-blown injury crisis, Barça Femení keeps winning. That we probably won't need to answer "how much is too much?" is yet another reason to appreciate this team.
I’d spent an inordinate amount of time over the past ten deys trying to think of something insightful to write about Barça Femení’s two victories since putting a manita on Real Madrid at Montjuic. Don’t get me wrong, I do kind of love that immediately after blitzing through two matchups I hyped up as their biggest of the season thus far, Barça actually encountered their two toughest tests to date.
First, in Germany four days after La Clásica, Barça had to rally from a 1-0 halftime deficit to defeat a middling Eintracht Frankfurt side 3-1 in their second Champions League group game. Three days later in Bilbao, they turned a technically dominant first half performance into a minimal 1-0 halftime lead.
There’s certainly stuff to discuss from these games. The scrappiness - an ultra-elegant version of scrappiness, but a version nonetheless - of the goals in Frankfurt in the relative absence of virtuosic buildup play isn’t something we’re used to seeing.
There’s also Caroline Graham Hansen’s continued, metronomic insistence on making a mockery of whatever “competition” is placed in front of her. Finally, and somewhat relatedly, we’ve got Marta Torrejón’s performance against Atheltic Club, from steady error-free play at right back to an excellent run and cool karate kick-esque finish in the 36th off a perfect CGH cross to open the scoring - just minutes after having an outside-of-the-boot rocket denied by Athletic goalkeeper Adriana Nanclares.
If there’s a broad idea to take away from those two games, it was most apparent in that first half in Bilbao.
Now, it must be said that Barça lined up for the match with a rotated lineup that included youngsters Vicky López, Martina Fernández, and Esmee Brugts, and no Aitana Bonmatí, Salma Paralleulo, or Mapi León. This is in addition to the injury-related absences of Alexia, Irene Paredes, Jana Fernández, Bruna Vilamala, and Fridolina Rolfö, who’s yet to play this season after surgery on the meniscus in her right knee over the offseason.
Of course, the starting XI did still feature CGH, Mariona, Patri, Clàudia Pina, Ona Batlle, and Marta, so we’ll stop well short of referring to the side as “weakened.”
On paper, Barça dominated the first half - 67% possession, 13 shots, six on target, and just one shot on target and eight “dangerous attacks” allowed. In reality, as they had in Frankfurt, the Blaugrana encountered if not actual peril then certainly heavier lifting than ought to have been required.
Despite their statistical superiority, Barça faced the first and most imminent threat of the half, with Clara Pinedo forced Sandra Pañso into an early diving save. And, all the while, Barça strugged to create genuine chances. Outside of the two attempts above from Marta later in the half, a close-range effort from CGH that was also pushed over the bar by Nanclares stands out as the only true “shoulda scored” moment of the game’s early stages.
It must be said that Barça did “right the ship” in the second half. Again, though, largely in theory. Nine minutes after the break, we got a mirror-image glimpse of CGH’s devastating gifts, as she received a pass from Mariona on the left wing and flummoxed two defenders while cutting onto her right, before sniping a shot through three defenders and past a diving Nanclares.
However, for a second straight match, Barça remained light on their signature suffocating, come-at-you-in-waves flurries. Even after subbing in Aitana and Salma in the 67th, the Blaugrana, not only did Barça not add to the minimal comfort of their 2-0 lead, they continued to struggle to create chances, while allowing Athletic Club with two - the first a volley off a corner that sailed tamely into Paños’s arms; the second a point-blank lefty attempt over the bar that may haunt Paula Arana for a minute.
In the game’s dying moments CGH popped twice more to ensure the aesthetics of the win. First, in the 87th, she put a short cross in front of goal for Patri Guijarro, in a moment reminiscent of the Champion League final, to poke in. Then four minutes later, it was the greatest mind-meld in sports today. After a quick three-pass sequence between the two, Hansen found Aitana 12 yards out for a brilliant pull-back and finish to cap off the 4-0.
This was, hilariously, the third time her last six matches for club matches that CGH has notched three assists. She scored in two of the other three, including a goal and an assist in the obliteration of Real Madrid. She’s now got eleven assists (plus seven goals) in ten matches across Liga F and the Champions League. That 1.1 per game average is more than that of (admittedly non-passer) Amar’e Stoudemire in his All-NBA First Team season of 2006-07.
A quick aside: Overly-belabored points probably annoy me as much as they do you. But there are certain drums I’ll never tire of beating. Among them: Caroline Grahan Hansen is fucking monster. Watch her play. Seriously, like any time you get a chance. In terms of simple aesthetics, score-agnostic ruthlessness, and an innate brilliance that’s barely fathomable to other elite players, she’s the closest we’ve got right now to Peak Messi.
At the same time, the growing need for Hansen to not only set a tone but seemingly create most of this team’s goals is worth noting. Sure, when you’ve got a singularly talented savant-like this (or, again, Leo in the Messi-dependencia era), letting them cook is part of the plan. But this team is not supposed to be that. This side is a hydra, capable of striking at will from any angle, with a force and frequency of its own choosing.
At least when it’s whole and not exhausted.
This, more than any stylistic or tactical matter, is what unifies the post-Clásica performances for Barça Femení.
Sadly, as we sit here today, Barça Femení is becoming less whole, which is, technically speaking, “not what you want” for an increasingly-fatigued remainder of the squad.
Jana, Bruna, and, Rolfö remain “out” for the time being. Alexia, though back in training, will be absent this afternoon against Eibar. Paredes, who’s suited up just once for Barça since October 15 due to a bout of tonsillitis, returned to action during the internation break against Italy… and injured a muscle in her right thigh.
And now another devastation. It was reported on Friday that defensive anchor and talisman Mapi León - unencumbered and seemingly safe during the international break - will miss four to six months after after tearing the meniscus in her right knee in training.
For some time now, we’ve gotten hints that, even with a stockpile of talent as ridiculous as this one, there are limits.
It’s now been weeks since Ingrid Engen’s shift to center back. The move, ostensibly made to bolster depth and combat the losses of Jana, Paredes, and Rolfö, has played out fantastically, with Engen taking on the role enthusiastically and is growing into it very nicely. She’s still learning the position and is not error-free but has the makings of an excellent long-term center back.
More recently, the midfield pecking order, made possible by a positional shift and Mariona’s versatility, has been disrupted by Alexia’s (and, to a lesser extent, Bruna’s) injury forcing Mariona to slide into #9 role.
In considering both the calendar and the disjointed (more than actually “bad”) showings from the past couple of weeks ago, and looking ahead to the four remaining pre-winter break contests - today vs. Eibar and a pari of Champion League tilts against Rosengård, with a trip next Sunday to Tenerife sandwiched in between - I can only think about the desperate yearning for winter break during my (increasingly, alarmingly bygone) school days.
This comparison is highly tenuous. My eagerness for time off stemmed more from a disdain for school and its related responsibilities. This Barça side, meanwhile, is the straight-A student whose obscene success has perversely both earned and eradicated for them a massive margin for error.
On paper - there it is again - Barça should have little trouble dispatching offensively-challenged, relegation-threatened Eibar, a Rosengård side that sits bottom of their Champion League, and a perfectly fine Costa Adeje Tenerife. That the next eight days will involve three matches, with roundtrips to Sweden and the Canary Islands (a three-and-a-half-hour flight each way)?
Eh, they’ll handle it. I mean, they always do, right? Caroline Graham Hansen’s head injury wasn’t too bad - just put more on her plate!
Someone, please, give these women a break.