Segunda División: AD Alcorcón 1-1 FC Barcelona B: Match Review

Barcelona B extended their unbeaten run to four games with their second consecutive draw, this time at AD Alcorcón. Alcorcón went into the match with a nearly perfect home record, with seven wins and a single draw, but Barcelona put up a valiant effort and left the Santo Domingo stadium with a point thanks to a late goal by Luis Alberto. The lone scorer for the home side was former Barcelona B player and La Masia graduate Oriol Riera.

Starting XI: Oier Olazabal, Patric, David Lombán, Carles Planas, Ivan Balliu; Gustavo Ledes, Sergi Roberto, Rafinha; Kiko Femenia, Luis Alberto, Cristian Lobato

Bench: Jordi Masip, Sergi Gomez, Edgar Ie, Ilie Sanchez, Javier Espinosa, Sergio Araujo, Gerard Deulofeu

With Alejandro Grimaldo out injured Eursebio was forced to make some changes in defense. While the logical change would be to move Planas to his natural left-back position and replace him with Gomez or Ie in the middle, Eusebio opted for a different choice. He put right-back Balliu to a position he is not familiar with - the left-back position. Jean Marie Dongou wasn't given medical clearance in time to participate in the game.

Barcelona B started the game with more possession than their opponents, but most it came from defenders passing the ball among themselves, because the home side defended very well. Often when Barca tried to move up the pitch, however, they found themselves easily dispossessed.

Alcorcón, meanwhile, played very quick football when they had the ball and in the 10th minute they created their first scoring chance. Rubén Sanz stole the ball from Patric, and played a lovely one-two with Sergio Mora and had a great chance to score the opener, but fired over the bar. Soon after Riera had a chance to put his team up, but he too shot well over the crossbar.

But those two early misses didn't discourage Alcorcón from exploiting the porous Barça B defense further. In the 17th minute Sanz sent a cross to the far post where it was headed back into the danger area by Victor Laguardia. There Riera was left too much space by Lomban and the striker finished the chance off from close range to put his team in front.

In the opening 30 minute Barcelona were simply outplayed in midfield which resulted in many turnovers. But in the final 15 minutes of the half Barça started playing with some more flow and it quickly resulted problems for the host's defense. Rafinha had the B team's best chance to score in the first half, but after a very nice run to the middle, he fired a weak shot on goal. The remaining chances for the B team came from set pieces, but sadly none of them even forced the keeper to make a good save.

Alcorcón, however, continued to play very decisively in attack and Barcelona B was actually very lucky that at halftime the hosts only lead by a single goal.

In an effort to jump start the game in the second half Eusebio brought on Deulofeu for Balliu at the start of the second half. As a result of the substitution Lobato moved to left-back.

Four minutes in, Barcelona B came vary close to getting on the board after a rare miscommunication in Alcorcón's defense. That coupled with the keeper straying out of position presented the first clear chance of the game for Barcelona B, but Alberto, after being set up by Roberto, hit the post with his curling effort.

Chances were hard to come by for either team for the next 15 minutes, but then things opened up. In a short time span both sides created a few chances, however, neither one managed to change to score.

In the 69th minute Eusebio made the second (and as it turned out the last) substitution of the game. Araujo come on the pitch and replaced Kiko.

10 minutes later Barcelona B launched a quick counter attack. Gustavo controlled the ball in the midfield, passed it to Rafinha in front of him, who skipped past a defender and then found the onrushing Alberto to his left. Alberto fired a first time shot that found the back of the net. Brilliant work by Rafinha to create the chance and give Barcelona B an opportunity to press for an unlikely victory.

The push for victory, however, had to put on hold because immediately after conceding Alcorcón brought the pressure and Oier had to be alert to make two saves and keep the score tied.

With one mite left in regular time poor defending by the B team allowed Alcorcón another chance, but Lomban recovered in time to step in front of the shot and block it. Merely seconds before the final whistle the hosts missed yet another opportunity to win the three points, but after two players failed to make the decisive touch, the ball trickled slowly past the far post and out of play.

After a very poor first half display, Barcelona B improved slightly in the second, but it proved to be enough for the Catalan team to leave Madrid with a point. The youngsters will again be in action on Saturday when they host second placed Girona FC in the Catalan derby.