The team lead by Indian skipper Sunil Chhetri could not hold their own, as they suffered a 3-0 loss to Barcelona’s B team in their final match on the tour of Spain. It was a game which saw the team from India be cautious initially and defend with everything that they had. They looked defensively strong and well organized and got a couple of chances around the 20th minute mark too. However, that did not bear any fruit, as they failed to score.
Ezkieta did well to keep the skipper out, who took a few good shots at his goal but to no avail. They tried hard, but the keeper was just too good to beat. Both teams went into the break with the score still stuck at a stalemate.
After the restart, the Catalan side suddenly shifted gears and did not take them too long to score the opening goal of the game. The Barca side scored twice quickly, within a gap of just seven minutes near the hour mark and this was too much for the Bangalore based club to handle.
All their hard work had been simply wasted in a matter of minutes, though they did try their best to get something out of a match that wasn’t really one sided. Monchu opened the scoring for his team in the 55th minute with a cracking goal, while Charles Perez made it 2-0 just beyond the hour mark.
Despite that it just did not get better for them, as they let in yet another goal, with Perez scoring a third in the 73rd minute of the game, to put it beyond any doubt. The quality difference between the two teams had shown in a matter of about 15 minutes and that is where the game was settled.
It was a close game actually, though the score-line clearly suggested otherwise and surely they have nothing to be ashamed of. They played exceptionally well in the first half and were unlucky not to score. Though the same can’t be said about the second period, it was also the fact that the Barca B team played really well that cost them the match at the end.
The Blues played a total of four friendly games in Spain in which Cudarat utilized 23 players in total. They managed to score twice in the opening couple of games, though were forced to play rather defensively in the last two matches against the Villarreal B and Barcelona B teams.
What To Avoid?
They are now back home and will be hosting Turkmenistan’s Altyn Asyr FK, as they look to win a title before the main season starts. The two teams will collide in the first leg of the AFC Cup on the 22nd of August at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium for the Inter-Zone semifinal. We wish them the best for the upcoming matches, prior to the start of the new ISL campaign.
From their games in Europe, it is clear that they are not at their very best when they fall back and try to defend. On the other hand, at times chances can be very few and fast. If the chances created are taken, things will be better for them. Otherwise, they may find themselves in a soup.
