Three takeaways from Barcelona 2-1 Eintracht Frankfurt | UEFA Champions League MD6 | OneFootball

Barcelona’s first UEFA Champions League game back the the Spotify Camp Nou last night was far from comfortable but they got the job done in the end to take three vital points.

Eintracht Frankfurt arrived at the venue as one of the most defensively frail teams in Europe.

Their low-block that they adopted on the night, however, frustrated Barcelona as the Germans looked only to hit on the counter-attack.

The Bundesliga side even took the lead against Hansi Flick’s men, and the hosts were forced to mount a second-half comeback to take home the win.

Luckily for them, their performance after the break was far better than what they showed in the first half.

Barça Universal brings you three takeaways from Barcelona 2-1 Eintracht Frankfurt.

Flick’s spot-on decisions

After Barcelona’s underwhelming first half, it was clear that something needed to change if the Catalans were to stand any chance against Eintracht Frankfurt last night.

After all, the team barely created any threat in the opening half and looked like a shadow of themselves.

Hansi Flick made some crucial decisions. (Photo by Jose Manuel Alvarez Rey/Getty Images)

Lamine Yamal was isolated for the better part of the half, Fermin Lope struggled to make any impact or runs in between the lines, while even Raphinha looked relatively off.  Robert Lewandowski, moreover, was virtually absent, barring his offside goal.

As he did multiple times last season, however, Flick showed to have an elite understanding of the situation on the field and what his side was lacking at the time as he opted to hook Fermin off and bring Marcus Rashford in his place.

At first, the idea did not seem convincing for the game situation did not seem to be anything close to one where the Englishman could thrive, especially given the tight defensive lines and lack of space to run into.

Rashford, however, repaid Flick’s faith just minutes after coming on with a stunning cross into the box from far out.

His ball was weighted to absolute perfection and fell exactly to Jules Kounde, who opened the scoring out of nothing.

As much as Kounde deserves praise for the finish, it would simply have not been possible without Rashford on the field and Flick bringing him on.

The half-time substitution, thus, needed just five minutes to deliver an impact, and the on-loan star continued his impressive performance throughout the half.

An unlikely hero

Of all the players on the field, Jules Kounde was one of the least expected names to deliver a match-winning performance with goals to show.

Jules Kounde was Barcelona’s unlikely hero. (Photo by Judit Cartiel/Getty Images)

Kounde was not having an extraordinary game before the halftime break.

He constantly looked to make runs into the box in what looked to be a tactical setup against the low-block, but his link-up play was subpar, and he made multiple errors that saw the buildup terminate in dead ends.

In the second half, however, he stepped up with two massive goals in a span of three minutes to single-handedly turn the game around for Barcelona and keep the team’s hopes for a top-8 finish alive.

Kounde’s first goal was nothing short of poetry in motion as his header was as beautiful as Rashford’s cross from distance.

The Frenchman angled the ball into the back of the net to perfection and brought the team right back into the game.

Just three minutes later, a relatively wayward Lamine Yamal cross soared high up and fell right into Kounde’s territory.

As he admitted after the game, he looked to put the header back into the box, but it somehow ended up in the back of the net, leaving even him surprised.

On a night when none of the forwards or midfielders could deliver with a goal, the right-back stepped up and provided the much-needed brace, and it comes as a relief that the Catalans are not dependent on specific players to score their goals for them.

Three massive points

It was clear right from the get-go that Barcelona’s chances of finishing in the top-8 did not lie in their hands.

Barcelona secure three crucial points. (Photo by Judit Cartiel/Getty Images)

While it was not impossible, it needed some results to go their way even if they won all their games.

Yet, the Catalans were seemingly playing for survival on the night, for there was simply no room for error.

After all, they were on just seven points after five game,s with two defeats and a dr,aw and a defeat last night would put them in real danger of possibly being eliminated from the competition.

Last night’s win, on that front, brings three absolutely massive points for the Catalans in two polar senses – both of which the dressing room will be relieved to have got out of the way.

For starters, the win keeps their bid for a possible top-8 finish alive as they now have ten points with two games to go.

They can thus achieve a tally of 16 points, the same sum that last season’s eighth-placed team finished with and secured direct qualification.

On a completely polar note, it also saves them from the realistic possibility of facing elimination from the event – something that would have been a real risk had they lost.

After all, they would be on seven points with two games to go had they lost, and even 11 points were not enough to secure qualification for Dinamo Zagreb last season.