Segunda División: FC Barcelona B 3 - 0 Sporting Gijón: Match Review

After a draw and a loss Barcelona B returned to winning ways with a very strong performance against Sporting Gijón. Goals from Luis Alberto, Jean Marie Dongou and Joan Angel Roman secured the three points for the B side at the Mini Estadi.

First let's begin with short recaps of the two previous games that weren't yet reviewed on Barca Blaugranes. Barça's winning streak was stopped by UD Las Palmas. In the rain-soaked Mini Estadi Gerard Deulofeu put Barcelona B in the lead just after the half-hour mark, but the amount of water on the pitch caused a lot of problems for the youngsters. The much more experienced Las Palmas side adapted better to the tough playing conditions and earned a point courtesy of Macauley Chrisantus' strike in the 72nd minute.

The next weekend Córdoba CF ended Barcelona's five game unbeaten run with a 2-1 victory. The hosts raced to a 2-0 lead before halftime, with goals from Joselu and Sebastian Dubarbier. Rafinha started a comeback in the 59th minute, but that turned out to be the only goal Barcelona B would score in Andalusia.

And now for the game at hand.

Let's start with the Barça B starting XI: Oier Olazabal; Patric, Sergi Gomez, David Lomban, Alejandro Grimaldo; Ilie Sanchez, Rafinha, Cristian Lobato; Kiko Femenia, Jean Marie Dongou, Luis Alberto

Bench: Jordi Masip, Ivan Balliu, Gustavo Ledes, Jordi Quintilla, Javier Espinosa, Joan Angel Roman, Miguel Angel Saiz

Because of international commitments Barcelona B were missing Gerard Deulofeu, Sergi Roberto and Carles Planes, who were called up to the Spain U-21 team, and Agostinho Ca who joined the Portugal U-21 side.

Barcelona B dominated possession from the start, but the visitors were the more dangerous team in the opening 30 minutes. Oier was forced to make three good saves on Gaston Sangoy, Oscar Trejo and David Rodriguez. But the direction of the game changed in the 31st minute when Ivan Cuellar brought down Dongou outside of the penalty area for a clear red card and an early bath. Grimaldo came close to scoring from the subsequent free kick, but the score would remain tied - for the next five minutes that is.

Alberto controlled the ball 30 yards from the Sporting Gijon goal and drilled the ball past the substitute keeper Juan Pablo Colinas to put Barcelona in the lead. Despite the man advantage Barcelona B allowed a few more chances to Sporting before halftime but Oier kept his net untarnished and kept Barcelona in front by the smallest of margins.

Just two minutes after the restart Sporting had their best opportunity of the game to get on the board as Patric committed a foul inside the area for a penalty. Rodriguez stepped up but fired the spot kick against the post.

Barcelona B took that as a sign and stepped up their game to put the score out of reach. Dongou had a very good chance of doing just that ten minutes later but he failed to find the back of the net. However, at the one hour mark he made no mistake and laid the ball Lobato who cut it back to Dongou to score in the wide open net.

Lobato was immediately after the assist substituted off and replaced by Roman. "The somehow still relegated to bench duties" Espinosa entered the pitch as a substitute 15 minutes before the final whistle.

Even with the comfortable two-goal lead Barcelona continued to press forward in search for a third goals. Their efforts were finally rewarded when Roman played a one-two with Rafinha which left this season's addition to the team with a simple finish.

Eusebio made the final substitution of the match just minutes before the end when he replaced Kiko with Saiz.

Dongou, it has to be said, was very good in this game causing all kinds of problems to the defense, and with Sargio Araujo doing little to impress the coaching staff the young Cameroonian should get more playing time. He was able to showcase his technical and physical attributes and was easily the man of the match.

The win brought Barcelona to 16 points (with nine games played) and a top-5 place in the standings. On Saturday the youngsters play their next game in Aragon against SD Huesca.

Highlights:

Barcelona B vs Sporting Gijon 3 - 0 All Goals And Highlights [Oct.13 2012] HQ (via universalTV3)