FC Barcelona had a good impression of what Álvaro Carreras can offer defending the left side during the match on Tuesday in Lisbon (4-5). On a night of terror for both the 'eagles' defense and the Blaugrana defense, the player from Ferrol generally completed a good match despite the penalty committed on Lamine Yamal in the second half.
Carreras surprised the culé defense right from the start of the match, with a good run down his flank where he took advantage of Jules Koundé's passivity to deliver a cross that found Vangelis Pavlidis free among the Catalan center-backs to make it 1-0 before the 2-minute mark. After that, the '3' managed to neutralize Lamine for much of the night, causing several ball losses and poor decisions from the Barça winger, which is quite unusual.
Lamine ended up celebrating in the one-on-one against Carreras
Until the 77th minute, Álvaro was smiling on a night when everything seemed to go well for Benfica. However, in the blink of an eye, Yamal managed to draw a penalty after a clear tug from the Spanish defender, who, in his eagerness to prevent the winger's shot, ended up bringing him down. Although the '19' exaggerated the fall, the referee Danny Makkelie, who had a poor officiating performance, did not hesitate to signal the foul inside the area.
Robert Lewandowski took care of converting the penalty, scoring a goal that opened the door to the historic comeback of Barça in the final stretch of the match. Despite the foul on Lamine, Carreras was by far the best of the Lisbon defense, with 25 out of 31 completed passes (81%), 5 duels won and 7 lost, as well as 10 balls recovered and a total of 13 defensive actions executed.
The player from Ferrol is under contract until June 2029 and, it is unlikely that Benfica will let him go for less than 40 million euros, the estimated value of his release clause. Beyond his team's defeat, the 21-year-old defender presented his credentials as a possible alternative to Alejandro Balde next summer. A Balde, who, by the way, was far from brilliant in Lisbon in defensive duties, a constant for the Catalan in his recent appearances. In attack, his performance is notably better.