Barcelona vs Almeria | Thanks to a convincing 2-0 victory over Almera at the Greatest Stadium on Earth on Saturday night, Barcelona will hold the lead in the La Liga standings for the next two days. The night was extremely significant since Gerard Piqué started and commanded the squad for the final time at Camp Nou and was a member of the victorious team on his goodbye. Barça played excellent football and overpowered a hapless Almera side.
FIRST HALF
Five minutes into the game, Kaiky was penalized for a handball within the penalty area. Barça had a wonderful early opportunity to score the first goal, but Robert Lewandowski missed the resulting penalty.
With lightning-fast passing, excellent movement between the lines, and several chances against an Almera defense that could not keep up with the Blaugrana’s offensive play, the home team played some genuinely magnificent attacking football.
But the ball just wouldn’t go in, for some reason. The Almera defense cleared perfectly placed crosses that would have resulted in tap-ins at the last second, goalkeeper Fernando produced big saves, and the ball repeatedly went agonizingly wide.
Despite one of the best-attacking efforts Barça has put together in a while, the game was nonetheless still scoreless at the interval. Football is weird that way, though, and the Blaugrana had to find a way to win the game in the second half by scoring their last goal.
SECOND HALF
In the final session, Barça wasted little time and took the lead after only three minutes. Ousmane Dembélé cut inside on his left foot, dribbled past three players in the area, and delivered the ball into the goal to give the home club a well-earned lead.
A little over 10 minutes later, Ansu Fati was set up inside the box by Jordi Alba’s cross, and after his volley was saved by Fernando, Frenkie De Jong was first to the rebound to score the second goal, giving the Blaugrana a comfortable lead.
