Piqué bids farewell to the Camp Nou with victory
Barça goes to bed leader with a placid 2-0 over Almería
MADRID, 5 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
FC Barcelona beat UD Almería (2-0) this Saturday on matchday 13 of LaLiga Santander held at the Spotify Camp Nou, Gerard Piqué’s farewell at home, thanks to goals from Ousmane Dembélé and Frenkie de Jong who put pressure Real Madrid up.
Xavi Hernández’s team was placed leader of the First Division with 34 points, waiting for what Madrid does (32) on Monday in Vallecas, in a quiet game although with strong emotions with more than 90,000 people in the stands. Almería suffered pressure from above and local possession, locked up in their field and capable of few scares, without remedy to the culé script.
Barça did not neglect the obligation to win to continue pushing for the lead, especially at the Camp Nou, where they have not conceded a single goal. However, the Blaugrana feud had an appointment with Piqué, who announced by surprise on Thursday his goodbye to football. With the applause for the center-back every time he touched the ball, the match began, a dominance that Barça did not let go of.
Ferran was the most active in the first half and, in his shot after five minutes, the referee awarded a penalty, with the help of the VAR, for a Kaiky handball. People asked Piqué, even Lewandowski offered to launch him, but the central defender did not want so much prominence. Ironies of football, the top scorer of the League missed the maximum penalty.
That’s where the culé jinx began with the goal, since he forgave a dozen clear chances. The first good one, yes, was from Almería, in a mistake by Frenkie de Jong, a horizontal pass, which left Ramazani hand in hand with Ter Stegen. The German goalkeeper avoided the setback in the middle of the culé monologue, which intensified on the way to the break.
Piqué himself had a couple of headers, Ferran got desperate with Fernando’s saves, as did Dembélé and another one from Pedri. Before Barça choked on the night, the French striker made it 1-0 three minutes after the break. A great pass from Busquets was taken advantage of by Dembélé in the race, he went two and finished off an impossible cross for Fernando.
The French striker himself had the 2-0, but got tangled up instead of looking for the shot. On the contrary, Almería, looking to add to move away from the relegation zone, was close to making them pay, saved by the first appearance of Marcos Alonso. Ansu Fati picked up Ferran’s witness with the same bad luck, although in his first shot, De Jong took advantage of the rebound to make it 2-0.
Despite the fact that Rubi moved the bench and even the system, the Andalusian team was signing their surrender, while the Camp Nou intuited, seeing Andreas Christensen warm up, the change in Piqué. He arrived in the 84th minute, after a sea of ??hugs and kisses, the farewell of the ‘3’ with the lead. Three points to put pressure on Madrid, while Almería did not give continuity to their victory against Celta. DATA SHEET:
–RESULT: FC BARCELONA, 2 – UD ALMERÍA, 0. (0-0, at halftime).
FC BARCELONA: Ter Stegen; Balde, Pique (Christensen, min.84), Marcos Alonso, Jordi Alba; Busquets (Gavi, 68th minute), De Jong, Pedri, Dembele (Raphinha, 68th minute), Lewandowski and Ferran (Ansu Fati, 61st minute).
YOU ALMERIA: Fernando; Mendes, Kaiky (Srdjan Babic, break), Ely (Íñigo Eguaras, min. 68), Chumi, Akieme; Robertone (Portillo, min.79), Samu, Melero (Puigmal, min.69); Baptistao (Dyego Sousa, rest) and Ramazani.
1 – 0, min.48, Dembélé.
2 – 0, min.62, De Jong.
–REFEREE: González Fuertes (C. Asturiano). He admonished Ferran (min.9), Dembélé (min.42) by Barça. And Kaiky (min.6) in Almería.
–STADIUM: Spotify Camp Nou, 92,605 spectators.
