Match Report - FC Barcelona Juvenil A vs Tottenham HotSpurs (NextGen Series)

Tottenham Hotspur 0 FC Barcelona 2

by Jason Pettigrove

 

Penya Blaugrana London members joined a smattering of other cules in North London to support the Juvenil A Barca side who were taking part in the NextGenSeries game v Tottenham Hotspur. 

They would not leave White Hart Lane disappointed after a magnificent second half performance from the Blaugrana. A noisy crowd of just below 9000 may have overwhelmed the visitors but it was obviously fairly quickly that this would be far from the case.

Despite a quicker start from Tottenham with Alex Pritchard particularly catching the eye, the earliest they came in the opening exchanges was a looping half chance that hit the top of the net in the first minute. 

With 18 on the clock, and Barca coming more into the game, a beautiful ball was played into space for Adama to whip in a cross which Sandro swept home first time with a delightful finish.  He ran straight towards the celebrating PBL fans, who were clearly delighted by the incisive interplay of the young team. 

It was simply a joy to watch wingers Adama and Ebwelle carve open the Spurs defence time after time, the only frustration being that Barca took just one more of their numerous chances.

Spurs' Pritchard hit the bar with a curling effort just before the half time whistle but any other Tottenham raid was being easily dealt with, Bagnack having a wonderful game in the centre of defence.

The second half was all Barca. The high pressure 'premier league' type tactics that were relatively effective for the hosts in the first half didn't work so well as they began to tire. Barca created chance after chance, Ebwelle tormentor supreme down the left side. Manager Jordi Vinyals will have been pulling his hair out in frustration at the sheer amount of presentable opportunities that went begging and allowed Tottenham to stay in the game.

A long punt upfield by Ondoa in the 73rd minute was allowed to bounce and Sandro raced clear of the tiring Spurs defence before picking his spot with a wonderful strike past the advancing Vigouroux for the second Barca goal.

With confidence high, and the sounds of the Barca Hymn ringing in their ears, Barca upped the ante with some rondos that even had the Spurs fans purring in appreciation. Sergi Samper's performance in the middle of the Barca midfield was outstanding. Full of class and maturity, he is definitely a star in the making.

If this performance is a guide, then the future of the club is in safe hands. Tottenham can have no complaints, they were well beaten in the end.

 

Tottenham: Vigouroux, McQueen, Ball, Veljkovic, Stewart, Dombaxe, Gallifuoco, Bentaleb (sub: Ogilvie, McEvoy, Coulibaly, Pritchard

Barcelona: Ondoa, Ekpolo, Costa, Bagnack, Quintilla, Quesada, Samper, Calvet, Adama, Sandro, Ebwelle 

 

For PBL member pics from this match, click here