Barcelona scraped a 1-0 victory over relegation-threatened Leganes on Saturday, because of an personal aim that helped protect its lead in La Liga.
In the forty eighth minute, Leganes’ central defender Jorge Saenz tried to intercept a go from Raphinha supposed for Robert Lewandowski, solely to by accident deflect it into his personal web, delivering the sport’s lone aim.
The blunder overshadowed a robust displaying from the hosts, who created extra scoring alternatives than the league leaders.
With the hard-fought win, Barcelona now holds a seven-point benefit over Real Madrid, which faces Alaves on Sunday.
Seven rounds stay within the season, together with a extremely anticipated “clasico” subsequent month.
“These games are where leagues are won,” Barcelona’s Eric Garcia said. “It was an evening to place the strain on Madrid.”
Leganes shocked Barcelona 1-0 in December throughout a dip in kind by the Catalan membership.
But for the reason that begin of 2025, Barcelona has gone 24 video games and not using a loss and is within the working for a treble of titles, together with the Copa del Rey, the place it has reached the ultimate in opposition to Madrid in two weeks.
Hansi Flick’s aspect stored up its momentum earlier than visiting Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday, aiming to make good on its 4-0 first-leg win of their Champions League quarterfinal.
Like their first match this season, Leganes’ five-man backline pissed off the lauded assault of Robert Lewandowski, Lamine Yamal, and Raphinha at Butarque Stadium.
At the opposite finish, Barcelona struggled with counterattacks led by striker Daniel Rabaseda.
Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny did properly to dam a shot by Adria Altimira arrange by Rabaseda.
Raphinha needed to hustle again to make a last-gasp dive to poke away a harmful go destined for Rabaseda in entrance of the aim simply earlier than halftime.
Alejandro Balde left with an obvious leg drawback within the first half, however his substitute, Gerard Martin, helped determine the match when he stole a ball and sparked the short assault that completed with Saenz’s personal aim.
Flick stated that Balde “was not so good” however added that the group must wait to see what Sunday’s medical examination of the participant decided to see if he can be accessible for the return leg in Dortmund.
Far from rolling over, Leganes continued to threaten. Substitute Diego Garcia sliced a shot simply huge of the far submit, and Inigo Martinez needed to disrupt an excellent scoring likelihood by Munir El Haddadi in damage time.
“We depart with our palms empty after having performed properly in opposition to a Barca that wasn’t as efficient as common,” Leganes defender Renato Tapia stated.
Source: www.dailysabah.com