March 26, (THEWILL) – On Saturday, in the Liga Iberdola, Barcelona Femeni overcame an early setback to keep their perfect record intact in a game against Madrid CFF.
The champions of the current season fielded a much-changed team, which included a number of younger players, including debutante Esther Laborde, who has progressed through the club’s youth levels.
Barça team B’s Mara Pérez, Ona Baradad, and Julia Bartel also featured as the manager Jonatan Giráldez decided to rest some key players ahead of the momentous reverse leg of their UEFA Champions League match against league rivals Real Madrid at Camp Nou this week.
At the Nuevo Matapinonera, the Catalan visitors took some time to wake up and conceded an early goal when forward for Madrid, Geyse, put the hosts ahead inside just the third minute of play. It was the Brazilian striker’s 19th goal of the season.
Barca sought to quickly find a leveller but it was not to be with Jennifer Hermoso earning a yellow card for her efforts. Having trailed for the majority of the first half, the visitors finally equalised through a Hermoso header just before halftime.
Giráldez brought on star player Alexia Putellas soon after play resumed in the second half and, expectedly, she could not be contained, scoring her 17th goal of the season practically immediately after coming in.
Bartel replaced goal-scorer Hermoso right on the hour mark and Laborde’s debut was over in the 70th minute but they had all done enough to see Barça go on to win their 25th game in all 25 matches so far played this season.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
