On Monday evening Barcelona are beaten 2-1 by Girona at Estadi Municipal de Montilivi, leaving them in a dramatic second place in the La Liga and denying them an excellent chance to climb back into the first place. Missed penalty by Lamane Yamal was costly to the champions since they lost their most recent embarrassment in a troublesome period.
First Half Characterised by Lost Opportunities.
Barcelona began the game with the attacking spirit and generated some opportunities during the initial attacks. Lamine Yamal had an opportunity to make the score within six minutes, but he missed the goal by a thin margin. The Spanish international also lost a still better opportunity in 18 th minute, and the goalkeeper of Girona failed to save a one-on-one.
Girona answered with a threat themselves a little before the thirty-minute mark. It was an essential save by Barcelona goalkeeper Joan Garcia who saved an attempted side-footed shot by Vladyslav Vanat to make the scores even.
Trial Woodwork and Sentencing Heartbreak.
The visitors remained to control possession and generate opportunities. Barcelo was frustrated in the first half when Raphinha hit the crossbar late in the first half. Things went to worse a few moments later when Yamal came forward to take a penalty following the foul of Dani Olmo in the box.
The spot kick of the young forward struck the woodwork and this became the third missed penalty of Barcelona in La Liga this season. The reigning champions are now on the unwanted list of highest penalties to be missed in the competition this term.
Cubarsi Breaks Deadlock
The insistence of Barcelona at last came to fruition in the 58 th minute. Defender Pau Cubarsi headed home with a pinpoint cross by Jules Kounde and the visitors were well rewarded. The objective seemed to ease the nerves of Barcelona, who had been wasteful before having come before goal.
Girona Fight Back to Become a Winner.
The home side did not want to give up and reacted fast to the lagging behind. Girona were equalized by Thomas Lemar, who negated the opener of Cubarsi, and the game was heading to a tense conclusion.
Having only four minutes left, Girona made its comeback with a sub, Fran Beltran, and Girona won the game in the 86 th minute. The target led to crazy cheerings in Estadi Municipal de Montilivi.
Barcelo pleaded in vain to have a goal in stoppage time. Ronald Araujo went all too close to tying the game, but his shot failed to strike his target. Although Girona lost their player Joel Roca on a straight red card towards the end of the game, the host managed to maintain the lead and win all three points of the match.
Historic Defeat While Being dominated by the shot.
The loss has a great statistical value to Barcelona. This was also the second match since the 2004-05 La Liga season that Barcelona had lost a match in which they had no less than 27 attempts on goal, including one penalty kick.
The last time they recorded a loss was in October 2015 when they lost 2-1 to Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan, and they had 28 shots. This statistic demonstrates the dominance of Barcelona in the attacks during the game and the inability to transform opportunities into goals.
Flick Admits Team Needs Rest
Following the final whistle, Barcelona manager Hansi Flick acknowledged the fact that his team is in trouble. German coach conceded that Barcelona are not at a good place and it needs a rest period to regain their benchmarks.
The evaluation made by Flick is indicative of the difficult season that Barcelona are going through, as they cannot convert opportunities and are defenseless, losing valuable points in the title race.
Impact on La Liga Title Race
The loss leaves Barcelona with a second place in the LaLiga, lacking any opportunity to get to the top again. As the title race hots-up each point means the world to the defending champions.
The tendency of Barcelona to be wasteful in front of goal, such as the number of penalties he has been missing and the amount of shots that remain unpunished have become worrying trends that Flick should deal with soon.
The victory is a major boost to Girona who won with one of the moments to remember against the defending champions despite having only ten players on the field. In the case of Barcelona, it involves bouncing back and making sure that they finish their games thus before they have their next game.
