Barcelona faced another stern test in a Catalan derby in their La Liga Matchday 16 clash. Girona has been doing great this year and they proved it again at Camp Nou.
As genuine contenders to fight for the league title, Girona have won won 12 of their first 15 games.
Trailing Barcelona had the chance to close the gap, but failed to deliver.
First half
During the first half went as expected, both teams were open and tried to play aggressively and didn’t spend too much time defending. Girona managed to score first which started with a very proming counterattack with Viktor Tsikangov out into the open and got into a 2 vs 1 situation, as Araujo was the only defender left back defending, who couldn’t stop the outcome.
Barcelona would strike back and while it took a bit of time, Lewandowski managed to score.
Barcelona equalized and continued to create chances. Everyone anticipated that the home team would score again. However, Girona striked again with Miguel Gutiérrez found plenty of space to score.
Second half
Barca started the second half wasting time and energy in front of goal. This allowed Girona to hold on to their 2-1 lead and eventually managed to take control of the match from a possession standpoint.
This led Girona to score a 3rd goal which pretty mych secured the result in the 80th minute.
Once again, poor Barcelona’s defending led to the goal, as it was Jules Kounde this time who failed to get a nick on the ball in an open space. Thus allowing for an easy 1v1 opportunity for Valery Fernández, one he didn’t waste whatsoever.
Robert Lewandowski’s poor finishing missed the chance to make 3-3.
Instead Girona found a fourth goal that sealed the game and left Barcelona trailing 7 points behind impressive Girona.
