Ribera Navarra 2-4 Barça: Solvent win and now for the cup
Barça are still in cruise mode despite their injuries and are coming back from Ribera Navarra with a 4-2 win behind them, and thus stay top of the league table. Touré kicked things off to a fantastic start, and André Coelho and Catela finished off the job before attention switches from the league to the cup.
With just eight first team players, two of which were goalkeepers, and two reserves drafted in, this was a game about overcoming adversities, and doing so with the brilliance that typifies the blaugrana mentality. The way to deal with such troubles is by scoring goals, and that is exactly what happened on Saturday evening.
Mamadou Touré had not scored in the league this season, but took just 27 seconds to open his account today. And the game was just three minutes old when the Frenchman did it again. What a way to start!
Things then went stale, but immediately after the home side pulled a goal back, Barça struck at the other end, with André Coelho siezing the chance to fire home a loose ball. Shortly after, home player Claudino was red carded, and the atmosphere in the pavilion went into overdrive.
Barça struggled to make the extra man count, and with Tudela playing a rush goalie there was all kinds of drama in the final minutes. Right at the very end, the majestic left foot of Catela settled things once and for all, meaning that Tudela's late goal of their own was purely academic.
MATCH STATS
Ribera Navarra: 2
Barça: 4
Ribera Navarra: Pereira, David, Gabi, Anás, Tripodi, Claudino, Carlos, Espín, Hamza, Dani Montes & Nacho Gómez.
Barça: Dídac, André Coelho, Catela, Touré, Matheus, Antonio, Dyego, Erick & Harrison.
Goals: 0-1, Touré (min. 1); 0-2, Touré (min. 3); 1-2, Carlos (min. 25); 1-3, André Coelho (min. 27); 1-4, Catela (min. 40); 2-4, Tripodi (min. 40).