Barcelonawhich Thursday was eliminated by Manchester Utd in the Europa League, ended a nightmare week with a 1-0 defeat against the modest Almeria (15th), this Sunday of the 23rd day of the championship.
The Catalan team, a solid leader in the Spanish league, had a great opportunity to stand out even more at the top of the standings, after real Madrid (2nd) 1-1 draw on Saturday in the derby against Atletico Madrid (4th).
He Meringue They started the weekend eight points adrift of Barça and thanks to that point, and the Blaugrana’s unexpected defeat, they finished seven points off the lead.
“We played the worst match of the season, especially in the first half, where we lacked circulation, intensity and pace. Today was a day where we couldn’t fail and we didn’t show passion to win the match”complained the Barcelona coach, Xavi Hernández.
The only goal of Almería’s match this Sunday was scored in the 24th minute, with a powerful shot from the Malian The Bilal Toure, who hit the crossbar before entering the fence defended by Marc-André Ter Stegen. Colombian Luis Suárez provided the assist.
The defeat does not yet have serious consequences for Barcelona because of the big cushion he has on Real Madrid, but emotionally installs a sense of crisis in the leaderfollowing Thursday’s 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford by Manchester United in the Europa League, ending the team’s run in this season’s continental competitions.
These two defeats also come just before the new week, on Thursday, Barça will have to visit Real Madrid in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final.
And Xavi’s problems don’t end there: He himself will be suspended for the next league match, on March 5 against Valencia at the Camp Nou, after seeing his fifth yellow card this season.
The young man will also be suspended Gaviwho was reappearing after an injury, and the Brazilian raphinhaboth due to the accumulation of alerts. Pedri, Ansu Fati and Ousmane Dembélé I’m out due to injury.
Almería, just beaten 6-2 in Girona a week ago, got the first win in their history against Barça. Thanks to this, the Andalusian team climbs to fifteenth place and provisionally moves away with two points above the relegation zone.
The Andalusians’ advantage could have been even larger. In the 70th minute, Luis Suárez’s volley headed towards Ter Stegen’s goal, but Marcos Alonso put all his body into avoiding it. At 90+5, Adrián Embarba had another great chance, but the German prevented Almería from doubling up.
In the other matches on Sunday, Celta de Vigo (13th) beat Valladolid (17th) 3-0 thanks to two goals from youngster Gabriel Veiga and a goal from Haris Seferovic. Valladolid had a goal from Selim Amallah disallowed after a VAR review at the hour of play and then the Moroccan player was sent off in the 84th minute.
Athletic (7th) were surprised in their ‘Cathedral’ of Bilbao by losing 3-2 against Girona (10th).
Monday 23rd day will end with the confrontation between Villarreal (9th) and Getafe (19th).
Source: AFP
Source: Clarin
Jason Root is the go-to source for sports coverage at News Rebeat. With a passion for athletics and an in-depth knowledge of the latest sports trends, Jason provides comprehensive and engaging analysis of the world of sports.