Barcelona fell to a shock 4-2 defeat away at Girona on Saturday night, handing Actual Madrid the La Liga title within the course of.
After Carlo Ancelotti’s aspect beat Cadiz 3-0 earlier within the day, Barcelona knew something lower than a victory towards Girona would hand their arch rivals the title, however Xavi’s aspect threw away a 2-1 lead in spectacular vogue to present Madrid the well-known trophy.
How the sport unfolded
It took Barcelona simply three minutes to fireplace themselves into the lead in spectacular vogue. Christensen collected a excessive go on the sting of the penalty space, took one contact along with his chest to manage the ball and unleashed a sensational volley which fizzed into the underside nook.
Nonetheless, the celebrations lasted lower than 60 seconds as Girona went straight down the opposite finish and arrange star striker Artem Dovbyk for a easy header to tie issues up.
Christensen almost restored the lead with a header than Paulo Gazzaniga needed to scramble away from his line, earlier than Ilkay Gundogan noticed a header of his personal crash towards the highest of the crossbar and behind.
Lamine Yamal went down on the sting of the penalty space and was not initially awarded a penalty, however a VAR examine decided he had been stripped. Lewandowski went to the spot and slotted into the underside nook to place Barca 2-1 forward on the break.
Joao Cancelo noticed a low shot pushed away early within the second half as Barcelona tried to cease Girona’s confidence from rising, however the hosts have been good worth for his or her equaliser shortly after the hour mark.
Sergi Roberto’s poor go again to purpose was intercepted by Dovbyk, whose lay-off to Portu was calmly fizzed past the scrambling Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Girona rapid bagged a 3rd via former Actual Madrid teenager Gutierrez, with Los Blancos 23 minutes away from profitable the title after his deflected effort ended up behind the online.
Barcelona’s recreation started to unravel at that time and Girona added a fourth with quarter-hour to go. Portu, solely off the bench shortly earlier than his first purpose, fizzed an unbelievable volley throughout purpose which left Ter Stegen glued to the spot. Most likely the purpose of the season.
Jules Kounde needed to clear off the road late on because the rating threatened to get embarrassing for Barcelona, however the 4-2 defeat was painful sufficient as Madrid followers across the globe began their celebrations.
GK: Marc-Andre ter Stegen – 4/10 – Did not actually get a lot fallacious however did not encourage any form of confidence on the again.
RB: Jules Kounde – 4/10 – Unlucky to see Girona’s third find yourself behind the online after hitting his leg, nevertheless it was removed from a convincing efficiency from Kounde.
CB: Ronald Araujo – 3/10 – His difficult run of type continued right here. Araujo was overwhelmed for the equaliser and by no means actually regarded snug.
CB: Pau Cubarsi – 5/10 – You possibly can see the trouble however Cubarsi regarded like an inexperienced teenager right here. Dovbyk’s aerial menace was an excessive amount of for him.
LB: Joao Cancelo – 5/10 – A tough one. Cancelo was actually impactful in assault however was additionally clearly focused defensively. Most likely received as many battles as he misplaced.
DM: Andreas Christensen – 7/10 – An outrageous purpose from the pure centre-back. Appeared snug on the base of midfield.
CM: Sergi Roberto – 5/10 – Largely a type of spectacular, quiet performances, however Roberto flung himself into the highlight with a poor back-pass which put Girona into the ascendancy.
CM: Ilkay Gundogan – 6/10 – A pleasant exhibiting on the ball. Unlucky to not discover the again of the online himself.
RW: Lamine Yamal – 7/10 – As soon as once more, Yamal was the first power in assault for Barcelona. His tough ft have been an excessive amount of for Girona. Received the penalty for the second purpose.
ST: Robert Lewandowski – 6/10 – Removed from his greatest efficiency however Lewandowski nonetheless made an impression from the penalty spot.
LW: Fermin Lopez – 6/10 – Not a pure winger however did just about the whole lot you’d need from a participant out huge. Put an actual shift in and regarded snug when given the possibility to get on the ball.
Substitutes
SUB: Raphinha (68′ for Christensen) – 5/10
SUB: Pedri (68′ for Fermin) – 5/10
SUB: Oriol Romeu (79′ for Roberto) – N/A
SUB: Ferran Torres (79′ for Lewandowski) – N/A
SUB: Joao Felix (84′ for Yamal) – N/A
Subs not used: Inaki Pena (GK), Diego Kochen (GK), Hector Fort, Inigo Martinez, Marcos Alonso, Vitor Roque
Supervisor
Xavi – 3/10 – Ouch. Barcelona by no means actually regarded like they’d management of this recreation, and the way through which the workforce collapsed underneath stress late on must be examined at size.
