Though, Barcelona is leading the Spanish La Liga leaderboard but they seemed to be missing their fine touch in last few games that is why they could not overcome teams like Athletic and Ajax. Their two defeats in succession raised many eyebrows up who start talking about team strength in absence of lead players like Messi, but ruling all the rumors out, Camp Nou team again showcased its command over the ball and crushed Cartagena by 4-1. Margin is too big to think it would have been a one sided affair, but surprisingly, Baca came from the behind and win the match despite missing Lionel Messi, Neymar, Andres Iniesta, and Xavi Hernandez. The team who has ever been known for its army of world class strikers showed why they are the ruling champions of contemporary soccer and made a perfect finish to add another win into their bag. They are leading the leaderboard with forty points and equal number of wins along with Atletico Madrid, however, they have more goals into their basket to take them onto the top. Their arch rival Real Madrid is on third position with a three points trail form top two, so it is wrong to say Barcelona will keep the title that easily as other two are ready to give them a tough competition this year.
Coach Gerardo Martino is happy to see his team is winning despite missing lead players, especially while they are trailing on the scorecard. Actuary, the match was full of events where Carlos de Lerma struck right on the sixth minute of the game to put a psychological pressure over defending champions. However, they could not sustain their early lead in front of firing attack from Spanish giants who took no time in registering an impressive first leg lead by the end. Though, Barcelona could not defeat Cartagena solid defense as easily, they had to use all their weapons to strategically break opponents’ defense and convert the score into their favor, in fact, last two goals came into the last few moments when Pedro added second goal to his tally and Dongou scored his debut goal for Blaugrana.
Martino talked about their impressive win and said, “We were obliged to win considering who we are and where we come from. They played a very intense game, they didn’t stop running and showed a great attitude for the first 15 to 20 minutes. But after that when we controlled possession we took the legs out from under Cartegena.”