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Las Blancas played their first ever game as Real Madrid Femenino vs. rivals FC Barcelona Femení. The first half showed us just how far we’ve come since last time and how far we still have to go.
Though our previous first halves against Barcelona ended with a 4-0 scoreline and few chances at goal for Las Blancas, that was not the case today. Misa (GK) played out of her mind to keep the Barcelona women to one, producing at least five goal-saving actions in 45 minutes:
I counted 5 goal-saving actions by Misa in the 1st half:
— Om (@OmVAsports) October 4, 2020
- Saves direct FK heading for bottom corner
- Saves long shot heading for top corner
- Saves Torrejón 1v1
- Sweeper keeping action near ~30 yd line to deny 1v1
- Saves header
Real Madrid’s best chance came in the 27th minute, when Kosovare Asllani poked the ball just wide of Sandra Paños’ hands. The goal, however, was called back due to a debatable foul on Paños (or something before the play that nobody seems to have seen).
Unfortunately, Barca were not rattled by nearly conceding and added 3 goals in the second half saw an additional three goals; one from an own goal off of Misa, the second from Barcelona’s dangerous Dutch forward, Lieke Martens, and the third from Alexia in the 74th minute.
While we’re starting the season off with a loss, it is fair to say that we’ve gotten a lot better over the last seven months. We still have a lot to improve on moving forward, but we’re not doing too bad for a side that’s spent only half of a season in the top flight (thanks COVID).