Barcelona Femeni defeated Sporting Huelva 4-0 in their Liga F clash on Sunday. The Catalan giants returned to winning ways following their 4-4 draw against Benfica in the Champions League. The game was a reminder of what the league champions were capable of as Barcelona totally dominated the game from start to finish, playing most of the game in the opposition’s half.
Claudia Pina scored a brace in the first half before Caroline Graham Hansen and Esmee Brugts scored in the latter stages of the second half to give Barca a 4-0 victory .
Here are a few talking points from the game:
Barcelona return to winning ways
If there were any doubts about Barcelona’s status as the best in the game, they were convincingly discarded with their stellar performance against Sporting Huelva. The Blaugrana put the shadows of their Champions League draw against Benfica behind them and enforced their authority over the game against Huelva scoring four goals in the process.
Although Barca had their 23-game winning streak across all competitions brought to an abrupt end in the Champions League, their winning run in the league this season was extended to 15 games after their 4-0 victory over Sporting Huelva.
Clean sheet
Returning in goal for Barcelona was Cata Coll, who had very little to do against Sporting Huelva as the ball barely made it pass the halfway line. The defense looked compact and organized unlike against Benfica where the defense was in shambles and ended up conceding four goals.
With Irene Paredes and Martina Fernandez marshaling the backline, Barca Femeni showed an impressive amount of stability and excellent ball recovery at the back.
Squad depth
Once again, Barcelona fielded a heavily rotated side, mixing a stream of young players with the veterans as a few key players were rested and secluded from the starting lineup.
Regardless, the team still put up what was arguably their most dominating performance this season. Lucia Corrales, Martina Fernandez and Vicky Lopez were particularly impressive in the first half, and showed great combination with the more experienced players in the squad.
Claudia Pina brace
With a complete rotation of the frontline, Claudia Pina shone brightly throughout the game. The young player found the top corner from a beautiful free kick 19 minutes into the game before calmly converting from the penalty spot six minutes later.
She put up a performance so brilliant she was named the MVP of the match.
Caroline Graham Hansen scores again
Graham Hansen is the gift that keeps giving. The Norwegian forward just can’t stop scoring as she came off the bench to score Barcelona’s third goal of the match and assist Esmee Brugts for the fourth.
Barca’s number 10 has been in impeccable form this season and currently leads the goalscoring and assists chart in the league.
