Liga: FC Barcelona revives with a painful victory against Almería

For the last home game of the year 2023, FC Barcelona, ​​third but dropped in the race for the throne of leader behind Real Madrid and Girona, had to relaunch in front of its public against the red lantern, Almería, on behalf of the 18th day of La Liga. The Catalan technician, The start of the match was clearly to the credit of the locals, who very quickly got their foot on the ball. It took a big save from Luis Maximiano on the head of Sergi Roberto, taking advantage of lax marking from the Andalusians on a corner (7th). The Portuguese was also present to capture the left shot of his opposing compatriot João Cancelo (11th).

In the process, the Blaugrana right side came to save his team from Largie Ramazani’s attempt (13th). The goal finally came from the Brazilian Raphinha, hitting the surface at the near post following a helmet strike from Ronald Araujo slammed by Maximilano (1-0, 33rd). The Auriverde international scored his first achievement since September 26 in Mallorca (2-2). The bill had almost been heavier for the last ones in La Liga but their goalkeeper Maximiano, following a risky restart from his defense, released a magnificent horizontal shot on Lewandowski’s point-blank shot (36th). Perfect for keeping his team in the match since following a deep pass from former Madrilenian Sergio Arribas, Léo Baptistão was thrown face-to-face with Iñaki Peña, whom he beat with a nice dive in the area (1-1, 41st).

Barça is doing well

Returning from the locker room, Xavi made a radical decision to liven up his left lane with the exit of João Félix, replaced by Ferran Torres. And very quickly, the one nicknamed “El Tiburón” showed himself to his advantage in the opposing camp, without having any more accuracy than his friend who came out (48th, 49th). Lewandowski still had other opportunities to open his goal counter in this match, held in check twice by the last defense of Almería (53rd, 63rd). A penalty was subject to discussion before the hour mark due to Ramazani’s push on Cancelo to the right of the Almeriense zone, but the referee did not flinch (59th). A few moments later on a controversial corner, Roberto cut the ball coming from Raphinha and thus gave the advantage back to the locals (2-1, 60th).

Nevertheless, Barça knew how to sabotage itself in a meeting that was nevertheless affordable on paper: on a distant free kick, Peña, hampered by Araujo, missed his aerial exit to let Edgar Gonzalez push the ball into the empty goal (2-2, 71st) . Not enough to discourage the flock of the ex-number 6 Blaugrana, who continued to push to finally rediscover the taste of victory, the last dating from the beginning of the month. Not very successful in front of goal, RL9 turned into the passer of a nice offering towards Sergi Roberto, slipping the ball between Maximiano’s legs to score a double (3-2, 83rd). As if to redeem himself after his failed outing, Peña made a reflex save to keep the one-goal advantage (87th). After 5 minutes of added time, Barça finally won in the league after three matches without success in all competitions to put the pressure back on Real and Girona in the standings. Almería remains bottom with nine points behind Cádiz, which still has one match to play in 2023.