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Barcelona picked up their first win of their Champions League campaign against Dynamo Kiev on Wednesday. The Catalans, who have now picked up wins in back-to-back games, will take on Real Madrid in the 2021-22 season's first El Clasico on Sunday. A win over their arch rivals could do Ronald Koeman and his side a world of good.
Without further ado, let's take a look at the top stories involving Barcelona from 21 October 2021.
Ronald Koeman says Barcelona should have won 4-0 against Dynamo Kiev
After suffering back-to-back 3-0 defeats against Bayern Munich and Benfica in their first two Champions League fixtures, Barcelona earned a 1-0 win over Kiev last night. But manager Ronald Koeman is of the opinion that the Catalans should have scored three more goals and wanted his team to be more clinical.
Speaking to the press after the game, he said:
“This keeps us alive in the Champions League and anything is still possible thanks to this win, but we needed to finish the game off better than we’ve managed to.
“A game like this should have finished three or four-nil. When you have strikers who don’t possess the real quality, you can’t demand great finishing from them. But we do have top strikers and it’s their job to finish off matches like this one.”
In the second half, there was a chance for Ansu Fati to tee up a teammate to score but the youngster chose to attempt an overhead kick instead. But Koeman defended the teenager and said:
“Ansu has been out for so very long that it’s normal he needs time to re-enforce his game again. He’s not 19 till next month. It’s all very natural. I thought that in his big moment today he might have done something differently, not try for the overhead. But it’s not right to expect miracles from a guy who’s just about to turn 19 – that’s impossible.
“This is a club where we have to win, to play well, to score goals. But there are things to improve here. The task was to win against Dynamo. Dynamo created absolutely nothing, no danger. We improved in some work without the ball, compared to other games. But we were not at our maximum, or we’d have won by at least three.”
Barcelona extended Ansu Fati's contract because of external interest
Although Barcelona were always intent on tying Ansu Fati down to a new contract, they were forced to act quickly because of external interest in the player. According to Helena Condis of Cadena COPE, Manchester United, Liverpool and PSG had registered an interest in the player.
It is claimed that Manchester United made a real attempt to sign the player by offering him more than double the wages he pockets at Barcelona. This caused Barcelona to expedite the contract renewal process and the Catalans have now agreed a 6-year deal with the teenager.
They have inserted a release clause of €1 billion in the new deal.
Manchester City and Manchester United join race for Dani Olmo
Barcelona have identified Dani Olmo as a potential signing in the winter transfer window. According to SPORT Bild’s Christian Falk, Manchester United and Manchester City are also interested in the Spanish international. They will look to sign him should the Catalans fail in their pursuit.
Olmo is a La Masia product and spent seven years at the club between 2007 and 2014. He then joined Dinamo Zagreb where he blossomed into one of the brightest young prospects in Europe. RB Leipzig signed him in January 2020.
Olmo has scored 12 goals and provided 14 assists in 64 appearances so far for the Bundesliga outfit. Barcelona will try to make a move for him in January and if that fails, they will attempt to sign him in the summer.
However, their financial troubles could cause them to bow out of the race to secure Olmo's services. If that happens, the Manchester clubs will look to swoop in.
