Connections between great midfielders have always been a Barcelona trademark of sorts in terms of highlighting their style of play and progressively dominant performances throughout the years even during their glory days with the likes of Andreas Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez.
However, as times change so must new players come and reinvent former traits of visualisation and effect. According to Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo, a new duo for Barcelona may have just been born in the case of Pedri and summer arrival Ilkay Gundogan.
Playing their first official game against Getafe in the Coliseum Alfonso Perez, this partnership seemed to have been distorted and completely nullified in a game that ended goalless from either team and saw the German and Spanish midfielders only connect seven times with one another without much avail on top of that.
On the other hand, as highlighted by MD, the two midfield interiors combined exceptionally well in the most recent game against Cadiz instead, where the connections between the two substantially improved in quality and increased in numbers as well.
Making a leap from a meager seven connections against Getafe to now standing at 26 against Cadiz, the two midfielders seemed much more in sync and even combined to score the opening goal of the game in the 82nd minute to break the deadlock and put FC Barcelona on the front foot in a rather frustrating game for the Catalan giants.
Making an inward run after laying off a pass to Ilkay Gundogan, the German then spotted the run of the 20-year-old Spaniard convincingly well and returned the favor with an exquisite through ball that the young Spaniard took full advantage of as he slid to put the ball past Cadiz keeper Conan Ledesma in a game where the Argentine goalkeeper looked almost impossible to beat.
MD also highlights how the 32-year-old German international previously had predicted this sort of connection developing between him and the 20-year-old Barcelona youngster, highlighting his excitement to get to see him in action and get to connect with him on the field, stating in an interview with the Spanish outlet:
“There was a player I was eager to play with, and that’s Pedri. He’s a great talent, so young and yet so good, he has so much potential… Of course, we play in similar positions and we’ll likely play many games close to each other. We’ll try to find each other a lot.”
For Barcelona, this will hopefully be the beginning of a new world-class midfield partnership that could potentially hold the key to helping the Catalan giants retain their La Liga title this season and be able to fight for other competitions as well.
