Barcelona wasted a golden alternative to increase their lead on the prime of La Liga as they had been shocked 1-0 at lowly Almería on Sunday because of a first-half purpose by El Bilal Touré.
Barcelona are prime of the league on 59 factors, seven forward of second-placed Real Madrid who had been held to a 1-1 draw at house by Atlético Madrid on Saturday. Almería are fifteenth on 25 factors, two away from the relegation zone, after their first-ever win over Sunday’s opponents.
Almería halted Barcelona’s seven-game profitable streak in the league and delivered one other blow to the Catalan facet who, after going unbeaten in 18 matches in all competitions, have now misplaced two straight matches after being knocked out of the Europa League on Thursday.
The hosts had been the higher facet in the primary half and scored after 24 minutes when Luis Suárez despatched an ideal lengthy move to Touré who was ghosting behind Barcelona’s defence. The Malian striker approached the realm and hit a thunderous strike in off the crossbar.
It was solely the eighth purpose Barcelona have conceded in La Liga this season, the least of any crew in the highest 5 leagues in Europe.
Almería ought to have prolonged their lead however Léo Baptistão’s effort was blocked by the goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen. Rodrigo Ely then missed a sitter from shut vary, sending extensive a header from a nook when he was on their lonesome in the realm.
“I’m very angry because I think we made the worst game of the season by far, mainly in the first half,” the Barcelona supervisor, Xavi Hernandez, informed Movistar Plus. “We were not good and wasted a great opportunity in a match we could not afford to lose after what happened to Real Madrid.
“It was a golden opportunity today and it ended with a really bad day for us. No excuses, it was the worst showing of our side in the entire season.”
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Xavi made 5 substitutions after the break, however Barça couldn’t get previous a disciplined Almería defence. Almería, who had received solely one among their final eight matches, held on to safe the three valuable factors as they bid to keep away from relegation.
In the day’s different matches, Athletic Bilbao’s European push stalled as they went down 3-2 at house to Girona whereas Celta Vigo beat Real Valladolid 3-0.
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