Barca Booster
Kalle Rises
Grilled Birds' march onwards kept on its steady, inexorable pace, as they crushed visiting FC Barca Singapore at home, which was also the first time that Barca had lost to the Birds in six meetings over fourteen seasons. Indeed, Barca had narrowly eliminated the Birds from cup competition twice over the past three campaigns - and ended their latest two S-League runs in third - which made this result all the more resonant.
Their away form had been less than admirable this season, though, as trips to Haha and Bot Team FC ended in defeat. Unlike their previous Singapore Cup win, defender-turned-coach Aleksi Harmoinen would abandon a counterattacking poise, likely as they were no longer as equipped to enforce it with the departure of key defenders Gregor Dembélé and Francis Poissonnet. Instead, they would place faith in their midfield core, and moreover had 19 year-old Serbian recruit Bogdan Klimović finally make his debut on the right flank.
The Birds, on their part, would submit a teamsheet that had been hastily marked-up, from a leaked photo -
Cyril Künzler seemed a last-minute inclusion on the flank, with
Salah Kamel stepping in for
Bhavya Panigrahi in the starting lineup. There had been news that
Neeraj Muthyala had healed from his knee complaint and been involved in light training, but the playmaker remained conspiciously absent from even the bench - that however was already occupied by the likes of
Chan Ze Han and
Chu Xin Lee, note.
Most papers had been playing this up as a potential trip-up for Grilled, with some justification, but this safe call would be falsified in very short order. Much of Barca's problems had stemmed from their diminished capacity for crowding opponents, as Künzler demonstrating in going past former Austrian U-20 player Christoph Kolla without much protest, in the third minute. Manuel Giammarinaro was be the next - and likely not the last - to be taken aback at the veteran Pole's legs, following which Künzler put in a standard cross for
Vikram Mudaliar to execute a similarly common finish.
Grilled's Indian forward was delighted at snapping what was for him a totally unacceptable two-match dry streak, as were the home fans; he would have to be physically restrained from removing his jersey by surrounding teammates, what with Italian referee Carletto Occhipinti looking very interested. Anyway, there would be no lack of future opportunities for celebration, as Grilled's focused passing brought a second for
Moey Xin Seng, about eight minutes later.
Avid watchers had recognized how this fixture had to end by now, with the visitors looking fairly lost, and it was mostly a matter of the extent to which Grilled could pad their goal difference. The supporters really got into the mood with their singing, and as it turned out, they had prepared a special tune for Dutchman
Kalle ter Berg's first goal for the club, which he managed in the 24th minute with a stiff drive past Fernando Julca.
Harmoinen was a picture of glumness as he apprehended the going-ons from the touchline, and given that his other viable substitute options were strikers Chi Xingdong and Bai Ping Qiang, he might have seriously considered breaking out his old gear. Barca's first true shot on target would arrive via a quality Krystian Wiatrak free-kick, though
Massoud Dob always had that, and Mudaliar would add to his tally for 4-0, before the half was out.
Eren Serpin hadn't gone on leave quite yet, from how he had continued furiously scribbling in his notebook as his team dominated, and he would adjust it by bringing
Chan Ze Han on for
Heng Dong Chu, for the second period. To this, Harmoinen's answer was to order his midfielders to take more risks, and while that didn't turn things around, it probably didn't hurt them either, as Grilled proved hardly impeccable when pressed.
Still, this was hardly enough to draw real concern from an ebullient Grilled side, as they quite correctly stuck with what had worked so well for them - directly demolishing Barca down the middle.
Cyril Künzler's deceptive pace would again come to the fore in the 58th, as he tore down his wing, and of the numerous Grilled players lining up in the box, it would be
Kalle ter Berg who would get on its end to record his second goal.
Bilal Mohammad Harun would dribble his way inside to make it 6-0 a couple of minutes later, as the away stands appeared conspiciously emptier than they had been, at the beginning of the game. It wouldn't all go the Birds' way, though, as they lost
Massoud Dob to a stray Bogdan Klimović aerial challenge, that saw bloody streaks raked across the goalie's thigh. That made the youngster public enemy number one for the remainder of the match, and as for replacement
Manuel Vadalà, he would barely get any action.
Serpin would spend his final sub on getting
Yuta Nakakita some minutes in, and Mudaliar missed out on what would surely have been a very popular hat-trick, with his ambitious swipe in injury time grazing the foot of the post.
