Fermín López tames a cheeky Shakhtar

Fermín López stomps hard. If the classic played last summer in the United States put him in the showcase, his performance against Shakhtar, on the verge of a new great duel with Real Madrid, could be his definitive accolade. The midfielder was, without a doubt, the great protagonist of the first half of the match against an opponent who had no trouble trying to get the ball as well.. The young Barcelona player, not in vain, participated directly in the two goals that Xavi Hernández's team scored at half-time and that, in the end, were enough to win a tremendously hard-fought victory and not without some suspense in the final moments. [Narrative and statistics (2-1)]

Fermín's performance in the first half was completely effervescent. First, he sent a shot to the post that Ferran Torres was in charge of converting into 1-0, after the pertinent review by the VAR, shortly before the end of the first half hour of play.. Something, in addition, that he wanted to dedicate to the memory of his grandmother, who died last Monday. The goal, of course, made the locals settle in after a somewhat turbulent initial moments.. And, just eight minutes, after a twisted play with the Valencian, Fermín was the main protagonist this time, with a tremendous shot that made it 2-0 and began to leave the match seen for sentencing.

The Andalusian's merits were not limited only to his participation in the two goals. Before the first eight minutes were up, he was nowhere near glory with a shot saved in extremis by Riznyk.

Without losing your breath

Above all, the young midfielder, 20 years old, also stood out for bordering on omnipresence. In a moment, he went from the midfield, the plot initially destined to be his main fiefdom, to dropping off in attack, with great discretion, or to going down to the rear to collaborate in destructive tasks.. All, not only without losing his breath, but also showing that he had more than enough strength to continue doing the same thing for as long as necessary.. With Pedri practically ruled out for the classic and De Jong still limping, it would not be strange at all to see him this Saturday in the starting eleven against Ancelotti's men.

His impetus was one of Barça's great arguments to quell the initial attempts to control the match by a Shakhtar as brazen as it was reckless.. The Ukrainian team wanted to be the protagonist during many phases of the game and, in fact, they got their way more than once and twice.. The Barça defense, with Araujo and Íñigo Martínez as practically insurmountable walls, despite the efforts of their rivals, did not allow their arrivals near Ter Stegen to be truly disturbing for the goalkeeper.

Nerves in the area

Things changed after the break, despite the fact that everyone initially showed a certain apathy. Sudakov, shortly after Ferran scored a goal that was finally invalidated due to offside, took advantage of a drop in competitive tension on the part of the hosts to score 2-1 and thus also break the German's unbeaten European record.

The blow served to wake up the Blaugrana and revive Shakhtar. Fermín, of course, issued two warnings: a new shot against the post and a goal disallowed for offside.. The visitors, meanwhile, patrolled Ter Stegen's domain with great insistence.. But, despite the fact that nerves set in on the balcony of the area in the final stretch, Xavi's team knew how to recover their spirit to add their third consecutive victory in the league.