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What, you thought the season was over? Well, for the men who play at the Camp Nou, it certainly is. And they've earned their vacation too. For the guys who play at the Mini Estadi though, they have one week to go after this round of matches. This week, they earn a visit from UD Salamanca, also known as Arsenal's farm team in Spain. Barca B were in 4th at the start of the match, Salamanca holding the last relegation spot and needing a win to avoid going down to Segunda B for the first time in five years.
FC Barcelona B: Masip, Edu Oriol, Bartra, Planas, Abraham, Dos Santos, Ilie, Oriol Romeu, Saul, Benja and Jonathan Soriano.
UD Salamanca: Biel Ribas; Juanpa, Moraton, Goikoetxea, Sito Castro, Hector Yuste, Edu Bedia, Kike, Juan, Toti and Marcos Márquez.
Unlike the previous two weeks, Barca B had a full complement of players. Salamanca though, true to their predicament, played as if they needed this game (because they did). A Jose Moraton header in the 10th minute just flew over the bar from a precise cross by Marcos Marquez. Just like the senior team did, Barca B started taking control of the ball and the game, though they had trouble creating real good chances. Eight minutes later, Moraton went even closer to scoring with yet another header but it scraped the right post. Saul finally fired a warning shot at Biel Ribas goal in the 29th minute. Salamanca did not heed the warning and eight minutes later (that seems to be a theme), they were made to pay. Some neat interplay between Jonathan and Abraham led to a cross from the latter, headed in by Benja. 1-0 to Barca B, and it was to stay that way until halftime.
Salamanca started out better in the 2nd half and Marcos Marquez should've really done better with a great chance. Against the run of play though in the 56th minute, Jonathan Soriano, La Segunda's pichichi, struck a decisive blow to Salamanca's chances of not only winning this game, but of staying in the second division by firing in his 29th of the season. Salamanca struck back through a great strike by Edu Bedia, and the visitors started to push even more, desperate to stay in Liga Adelante. The next goal was certain to be decisive and it came as no surprise that it came from the foot of Jonathan, who shook his marker off and was found by Victor Vasquez to condemn Salamanca to defeat. Barcelona B added two more, one from Nolito and one from Jonathan to complete his hat trick, to add gloss to the final scoreline. Jonathan now has 31 goals this season, five more than his nearest competitor for the Pichichi.
Barcelona B moves up to third in the Segunda Division, and UD Salamanca is relegated to Segunda B.
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