Afrigather Barcelona comprehensively beat Girona on the Montilivi on Sunday afternoon within the fifth spherical of the season in La Liga, making it 5 victories straight to keep up an ideal report and hold a agency maintain on the highest of the desk.
Lamine Yamal struck twice within the first half (30′, 37′) to place the guests forward, and Dani Olmo produced a unbelievable end two minutes into the second half to virtually settle the end result. Nonetheless, Barcelona weren’t going cease simply but, and it was Pedri who scored their fourth objective within the sixty fourth minute, earlier than Cristhian Stuani pulled one again for Girona with 10 minutes to go.
Within the 86th minute, Ferran Torres put a little bit of a stain on his group’s efficiency by stamping on the foot of Girona’s Yaser Asprilla, incomes a straight crimson card for his hassle.
The groups
Michel, who did an ideal job with Girona final season by main his group into the Champions League, selected a 4-2-3-1 setup. With Paulo Gazzaniga in objective, Alejandro Frances, David Lopez, Daley Blind and Miguel Guttierez fashioned the again line. The double pivot in the course of the park consisted of Ivan Martin and Jhon Solis, and striker Abel Ruiz had the trio of Bryan Gil, Viktor Tsygankov and Arnaut Danjuma in assist.
Hansi Flick within the Barcelona dugout went with the identical formation. Robert Lewandowski led the road up entrance, with Dani Olmo straight behind, Yamal on the proper and Raphinha on the left. Pedri paired up with Marc Casado in deeper midfield roles. Centre-backs Inigo Martinez and Pau Curbasi had been flanked by Alejandro Balde and Jules Kounde, with Marc-Andre ter Stegen between the posts.
The sport
Although Barcelona appeared extra decided to go for a objective early on, the primary half-hour of the match had been truly balanced fairly nicely. Girona had some promising moments too whereas the scoreline remained 0-0, they usually had been clearly made to pay later for not being extra centered in these conditions.
What made it worse for the house facet was the truth that they caused their very own demise within the thirtieth minute. Having acquired the ball in his personal field from a goal-kick, Lopez was far too informal as he tried to take it previous Yamal. The younger Barcelona winger was alert and pounced right away, punishing the carelessness of the Girona defender by dispossessing him, earlier than slamming previous Gazzaniga into the online. Lopez, twice the age of Yamal, ought to actually know higher.
Yamal confirmed an ideal mixture of luck and composure once more, seven minutes later. Raphinha whipped a free-kick into the field and it by some means bounced off Lewandowski in the direction of Yamal, who fired an ideal shot into the underside nook from the sting of the field to double Barcelona’s lead.
There was a little bit of controversy late within the first half. Minute 43 was working when Girona had a penalty awarded for Gil’s header being blocked by the outstretched arm of Inigo Martinez contained in the field. Nonetheless, the VAR intervened, and having seen the slow-motion footage, referee Alejandro Muniz modified his thoughts, most likely deeming the Barcelona defender unable to keep away from contact with the ball.
And if Michel’s group harbored any hope of manufacturing a comeback after that, Olmo made certain to place the competition past their attain straight after the break. A top-class move from Kounde launched his run, and he appeared to have gone too far to the proper, narrowing his angle down vastly, however his shot was completely excellent and there was nothing Gazzaniga might do to cease it.
Within the interval that adopted, it appeared Barcelona would go on to inflict their hosts with a correct disaster. Lewandowski and Yamal each wasted superb possibilities, earlier than the guests produced a shocking group transfer which ended with Casado cleverly discovering the run of Pedri in behind and the latter making it 0-4. The looks of two deep-lying midfielders within the attacking areas clearly confused the Girona defence, which regarded far too stationary to have the ability to do its job correctly.
Ultimately, Barcelona’s defence fell asleep too as Asprilla whipped a move in behind in the direction of the run of fellow substitute Cristian Portu within the eightieth minute. Ter Stegen got here out however Portu made a straightforward job of rounding the Barca ‘keeper and setting Stuani up for a easy tap-in. A bit comfort for the house supporters, nothing extra.
Nonetheless, the recklessness of Ferran Torres six minutes later may be very laborious to know. The sport was virtually over, and there was completely no want for him to sort out Asprilla the way in which he did. The choice to award him a crimson card was fully justified, and Flick will most likely have a factor or two to say to his attacker about appearing responsibly.
Desk rankings
Barcelona at the moment are 4 factors clear on the high of the desk once more, forward of the trio of Atletico Madrid, Actual Madrid and Villarreal. Beneath Flick, they actually appear to have rediscovered among the scintillating soccer they used to play again within the days of Pep Guardiola on the helm – Pedri’s objective was significantly paying homage to the occasions when Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta danced across the center areas of the pitch, whereas Lionel Messi labored with varied companions down the years to bamboozle opposition defences.
If the Blaugrana handle to stay constant of their efficiency ranges, it’ll be very laborious for any rival to maintain up.
In the meantime, Girona have now misplaced two of their 5 video games performed, after getting hammered by Atletico Madrid on the Wanda Metropolitano again in August. However in addition they recorded some notable victories, smashing Osasuna 4-0 at residence and defeating Sevilla away by 0-2. In addition they drew 1-1 away to Actual Betis, and the seven factors they’ve nailed on the board have them in seventh place in the mean time, degree with Alaves in sixth, Athletic Bilbao in eighth, Espanyol in ninth, in addition to Osasuna in tenth, although Osasuna have an opportunity of transferring clear as they face Rayo Vallecano on Monday.
