FC Barcelona continue to showcase their winning mentality across different competitions. Already in La Liga this season, La Blaugrana have had to come back on several occasions. Conceding early seems to have become a bad habit, but Barcelona have managed to find a drive to come back as an equally stubborn quality of theirs.
This time around, the comeback took place in the UEFA Champions League. Barcelona took on FC Porto at the Montjuic Stadium, and as usual, managed to concede first. With the score already 0-1 in favor of Porto by minute 30, Barcelona needed to step up.
Fortunately for Barcelona, a certain Portuguese star did stand up. Joao Cancelo, as highlighted by SPORT, gave a virtually flawless performance to help Barcelona come back into the game. Interestingly, the man who ended up helping him in doing so was another Portuguese teammate, Joao Felix.
Almost two minutes after conceding to Porto, Cancelo took matters into his own hands. A lofted pass from Pedri ended up reaching the feet of the fullback, operating from the left in this game, and he individually drove it into the Porto box and let loose a vicious strike into the bottom right corner.
His tremendous goal was then followed by an equally passionate celebration from the 29-year-old. Not too long after, in the second half, he would also end up providing a brilliant assist to teammate Joao Felix. The latter would calmly tuck the ball into the net past the Porto keeper to ensure Barcelona completed the comeback.
In terms of a collective performance, Barcelona were rather sluggish in the first half. Individual brilliance from the likes of Cancelo and Frenkie De Jong showcased sparks of hope, but the team as a whole felt way too stagnant. Thankfully, the game changed in the second half.
Feeling revitalized with new ideas and a more creative display, Barcelona were much better in the second half. This was understandably also helped by the fact that both Joaos were working at an almost telepathic level. A narrow victory on the scoresheet, but a massive one in terms of its future benefits to Barcelona.
