Barça 1-1 Cádiz: Dominance without reward

Lionel Messi, making a record 506th LaLiga appearance for Barça, got things underway at a breezy Camp Nou, and it was a full minute before the visitors managed to get a touch on the ball.

Within the first five minutes, the pattern of the game was set, the blaugranes having the lion’s share of possession and the visitors sat with 10 men behind the ball and looking to play on the counter-attack.

Dominant

Sergiño Dest and Ousmane Dembélé’s consistent attacking down the right side was mirrored by that of Jordi Alba on the left, whilst the midfield areas were also being dominated by Barça. By 20 minutes, however, the score still remained goalless.

Messi, Dembélé and Antoine Griezmann all fired over when well placed, and still the chances came. On the half hour the pressure finally told as Pedri was upended in the area. Messi stroked the resulting spot-kick home, Cádiz becoming the 38th different league opponent he had scored against in the process.

Compact

A second from Frenkie de Jong was ruled out for offside, as was another from Pedri two minutes before half-time, Barça ending the half as they’d begun it. The same pattern of play continued after the break, Cádiz inviting the blaugranes to break their compact and defensive 5-4-1 formation.

Finding space for the hosts was difficult, whilst the visitors offered little by way of an attacking threat other than the occasional and sporadic foray.

Pressure

On the hour, a smart save from Ledesma took the ball off of Griezmann’s toes, and Dembélé’s great run was halted two minutes later as Barça looked to get the reward their dominance deserved. 

No matter how much they tried, Cádiz found it difficult to build up any sort of pressure themselves even though they remained resolute in defence against wave upon wave of Barça attacks.

A great break from Barça on 84, once the visitors finally began to get forward, almost saw Riqui Puig end the game as a contest, but his shot was just a whisker wide. With two minutes left, Cádiz won a penalty of their own which they scored to secure an undeserved draw.