Jules Koundé went from being arrested to becoming the unexpected hero of the night. It only took three minutes. With two fleeting headed goals coming out of the locker room in the second half, the French defender came back to score during Barcelona’s match against Eintracht Frankfurt. “I’m happy with the victory, these are three very important points. Goals count sometimes, and today was my day,” Koundé admitted. For the team, two precious goals which made it possible to overturn the score for the seventh time this season (the fourth in a row), to add three points in the Champions League and to get closer to the first eight places. For the Frenchman, these are also Barcelona’s first two goals in the Champions League and the first double of his career. “Koundé works hard, he deserves it, it will be good for him,” explained Pedri. With these two goals, he now has three goals this season, moving closer to his single-season record of four goals.
The first, revealed the Frenchman, was a worked action. “When I saw Rashford, I stood out because I know he likes to score those kinds of balls,” he explained. “I’m sure in the second he didn’t want to finish, but you’ll have to ask him,” Pedri said. That’s how it was. “With the bagel, I tried to get him into the zone to see what happens, if I’m honest. I’m a little surprised, but sometimes you have to be lucky,” Koundé admitted with a laugh.
Hansi Flick was also surprised: “To be honest, I didn’t expect a double from Koundé. His mentality is very important for us.” Joan García, for his part, told the Frenchman that he would score, but he did not imagine that he would do it twice. Perhaps I didn’t expect to score a first goal so early either. “We goalkeepers don’t like to concede so early. We have no choice but to analyze and work. We haven’t kept a clean sheet for several matches,” admitted the goalkeeper.
Barcelona started very focused, until the German goal broke the team, which sank into frustration and impatience on the pitch, and tension in the stands. “We wanted to start at Camp Nou with a victory. They made it difficult for us. In the first half they found that goal, they put a lot of people behind,” summed up Pedri. “We knew it was a complicated team that defends very well, very together and with a lot of people,” added Joan.
Barça found itself in a scenario which is becoming more and more daily: this is the eleventh time this season in 22 matches played that Barça has started late on the scoreboard. Among them, Barça players had returned six times, all in La Liga. They didn’t have the same luck in Europe – Barça drew against Brugge, lost to Chelsea – until the match against Eintracht arrived, the fifth in a row. And in half an hour they managed to equalize, a little more than the seven minutes against Atlavés and Atlético de Madrid and the ten minutes against Betis. “It says a lot about our mentality, our attitude and our competitiveness, but it would be nice to score one or two goals first,” admitted Flick.
The concern this time was the enemy. Pedri, frustrated by his rival’s mistakes and by the refereeing, asked Gerard Martín to come up and accelerated the games. However, as half-time approached, Barça recovered without attacking the opponent’s goal, until the referee closed the first half. A scene that made Hansi Flick lose his composure, and he left angrily towards the locker room. “We adjusted things, especially with the people on the inside. We came out better and we found the goals,” Pedri simplified. “At halftime we told them what we had to do and they did it. I congratulate all my staff for their analysis,” said Flick, “very happy and proud” of the match. The second half smiled on the Blaugranas, especially after Rashford’s successful tackle – “it was important to give breadth and stretch the lines”, underlined Flick – and thanks to the two goals from Koundé, which definitively separated the Blaugranas. “The team has once again shown their willingness to come back,” Joan concluded.
Barcelona are now closing in on the top eight in the Champions League. “Now we have to add six more points. We have to focus on ourselves. We have to play at this level and that’s what I want to see,” Flick stressed. For now, the team continues to make returns. And even when the night seems to go wrong, unexpected men like Koundé appear.
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