This duel between FC Barcelona, second in the championship at one point behind Real Madrid before this weekend, and the promoted Almeria, 15th at two small points from the red zone, had a particular flavor for Gerard Pique. The Spanish central defender, holder this Saturday evening as part of the 13th day of La Liga, played his last match under the Blaugrana colors in his den of Spotify Camp Nou before retiring at the end of the first part of the season, i.e. after the trip to Osasuna in the middle of next week.
Applauded when he entered the green rectangle with the inscription “SEMPR3” (“always” in Catalan with the number 3 in place of E), the 2010 world champion was cheered each time the ball was taken by the public. The latter could have got up if Lewandowski had not missed his penalty, on the right post (7th). Jordi Alba also worried the Andalusian goalkeeper, before Almeria’s response by Ramazani, defeated by Ter Stegen (29th). In the aftermath, F. Torres saw his cross shot released on the line by Kaiky, who had provoked the shot from 11 meters at the start of the match.
Thank you Dembele and De Jong
More in difficulty in this meeting, the Polish striker, author of 13 league goals, saw his teammates in attack being dangerous, without however finding the way to goals (34th, 40th, 44th, 45 + 2nd). We had to wait for the return of the locker room and a rush from Dembélé on his right lane before entering on his left foot to find the small left net of Martinez (1-0, 48th). The French winger was very close to the double after a superb festival in the last opposing third, but he delayed his attempt to strike, countered in extremis by the red-and-white defense (58th).
Finally, it was F. De Jong, in fox of the surfaces following a deflected recovery by the opposing goalkeeper, who propelled the ball into the goals to double the bet and direct his team a little more towards an 11th victory in championship. The opportunities to aggravate the mark were present, but it still lacked a bit of accuracy to finalize the many actions. The score did not change: FC Barcelona won 2-0 at home to temporarily win the provisional place in the standings. Almeria falls for the 8th time since August and remains 15th.
