Girona 0-2 Barça: Elite Eight

Eight wins in a row!

Barcelona will finish another week at the top of La Liga with a five-point lead thanks to a very good 2-0 win over Girona on Sunday. This was as tough a road game as Barça could have asked for, but a strong second half and two really good goals from Nélson Semedo and Lionel Messi extended the Blaugrana’s winning streak to eight consecutive games.

FIRST HALF

Barça started the game fast, scoring in the first 10 minutes thanks to a smart late run and a great finish by Nélson Semedo. Girona weren’t afraid to keep going forward after conceding and started pressing high up the pitch, which left spaces at the back. Barça did a pretty good job of beating the press and getting into really good attacking positions, but the final pass or shot was lacking time and time again.

Because the Blaugrana couldn’t find a second goal to start wrapping up the victory, Girona started to send more bodies forward and create a few opportunities, which culminated with Gerard Piqué having to clear a ball off the line to prevent his team from conceding after a defensive breakdown.

As we reached halftime, Barça had the lead, but truly anything could happen in the second half. This game looked wide open.

SECOND HALF

Christian Stuani came face to face but had his shot saved by Ter Stegen to start the final period, and it looked as though Girona were ready to amp up the pressure even more in search of an equalizer. But when Bernardo Espinosa was sent off for a second yellow card in the 50th minute, Barça had the chance to kill the game against 10 men and secure the win.

Girona are a bold team who don’t give up at all, and they continued to go forward even more and had two or three huge chances to equalize. Arthur came on from the bench to stabilize the midfield and give Barça more control, and the plan worked. Girona couldn’t find chances anymore, and the visitors doubled their lead when Jordi Alba assisted Lionel Messi and the captain chipped the keeper.

The last few minutes saw Barça running out the clock against a deflated and tired Girona team, and the final whistle came to give the Blaugrana three more points and eight straight wins.

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Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Lenglet (Vermaelen), Alba; Vidal (Arthur), Busquets (Roberto), Rakitic; Messi, Suárez, Coutinho

Goals: Semedo (9’), Messi (68’)

Girona: Bono; Porro, Alcalá, Bernardo, Juanpe, Valery; Aleix (Douglas), Pons, Granell (Paik); Portu (Lozano), Stuani

Goals: None