Barcelona produced a dogged efficiency to safe a 1-0 victory over Benfica on Wednesday, and on the coronary heart of this was midfield maestro Pedri. The 22-year-old has been in sensational type this season, and his newest robust exhibiting got here within the Portuguese capital.
It was a relentless efficiency from Pedri, who ran the present in midfield regardless of there being one much less Barcelona participant in the midst of the park after Dani Olmo was withdrawn to permit Ronald Araujo to return on after the pink card. As per MD, he expressed a whole lot of delight with the show that he and his teammates produced in opposition to Benfica.
“What the crew achieved right now after the sending off has a whole lot of advantage. As we speak we had been capable of defend and benefit from the probabilities we had with Raphinha, Lamine and Robert. Balde appeared exhausted and every part was going up for me, however I knew that I needed to run like the very best as a result of we needed to maintain the rating for the second leg.”
Barcelona performed with 10 males for over 70 minutes, though Pedri believes that Pau Cubarsi shouldn’t have been despatched off – not due to the problem the younger defender made, however as a result of he thinks that Frenkie de Jong was fouled within the build-up by Benfica striker Vangelis Pavlidis.
“We imagine that the striker dedicated a foul earlier than.”
Pedri gained the MVP award from UEFA, however he couldn’t assist paying tribute to Wojciech Szczesny after the Polish goalkeeper’s sensational efficiency between the sticks on the Estadio da Luz, throughout which he produced eight necessary saves.
“It was his finest recreation. The final time we performed right here, issues didn’t go properly for him and right now he saved us many possibilities, particularly initially of the sport. Below the sticks he’s very massive.”