João Cancelo’s debut scare in Racing v Barcelona | OneFootball

João Cancelo will hardly forget his official debut wearing the Barcelona jersey. The full-back, who came up through the ranks in Seixal, and was presented as a new signing for the Culés last Tuesday, started on the bench in the Copa del Rey and witnessed a scenario that not even the most pessimistic Barça fan could have predicted: Racing Santander, leaders of the second division, playing fearlessly and putting the Catalan giants under real pressure. The match, which started 15 minutes late due to the packed stadium, turned out to be a true survival test for Hansi Flick’s team.

Despite the starting eleven featuring stars like Lamine Yamal and Rashford, Barcelona struggled immensely to break through Racing’s defensive wall during the first half. It was only in the 66th minute that the deadlock was broken, when Ferrán Torres took advantage of a brilliant pass from Fermín López to open the scoring. However, the goal did not bring the expected calm, and what followed was a series of scares that left João Cancelo and his teammates on high alert on the bench.

Racing Santander did not give up and even managed to put the ball in Joan García’s net twice, both times through the young Manex Lozano. On both occasions, the goals were ruled out for offside, which created moments of great tension on the pitch. The former Benfica player saw his team wobble in the final moments, especially when the Catalan goalkeeper had to shine in the 90+4 minute to prevent what seemed like a certain equalizer.

The final verdict only came in the 90+6 minute, when Lamine Yamal took advantage of the home side’s exhaustion to seal the result at 0-2. With this hard-fought victory, Barcelona secures a place in the quarter-finals of the Spanish Cup, but the performance sends plenty of warnings for the immediate future.

This season, playing for Al Hilal, João Cancelo — valued at 10 million euros — has played only six official matches. In the 469 minutes he has been on the pitch, he has scored one goal and provided two assists. For Benfica, the full-back spent seven years (2007 to 2014), and played two matches for the first team in 2013/2014.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.