La Liga
Leganés Stun Leader Barcelona
The faces of the Barcelona traveling support at the end of the 90 minutes at the Estadio Butarque completely sums up the result of the game between Leganés and Barcelona. A near shambolic second half performance from the mighty Catalans saw them fall to their first defeat this season. Los Pepineros however, fought and toiled hard to a historic win. This was not only their first win over Barcelona in the league but also their first win this season.
Leganés were in the bottom three before going into this game. Barcelona sat on top thanks to their goal differential. Though they slipped up against Girona previously they were expected to coast through this game. Barcelona offered Munir El Haddadi and Thomas Vermaelen their first starts of the season. The Blaugrana got off to a great start as anyone would’ve predicted. A terrific Leo Messi run saw him square the ball to Philippe Coutinho who placed a cracking volley into the bottom corner. They continued to dominate the first half but Leganés kept them at bay.
Second Half Turnaround
Just seven minutes into the second half Leganés left Barça shell-shocked. Two goals in the space of just about 50 seconds meant the lowly Madrid side completed a spectacular turnaround. This is a testament to Barcelona’s poor performances away from home so far. They were far from convincing at Valladolid, Sociedad and Girona as well. Nabil El Zhar headed in Leganés’ first goal from a Jonathan Silva cross. The ball was a good one, but it only reached El Zhar due to very poor defending from Vermaelen. In fact, the Belgian looked completely out of place the whole game where he was deployed as a makeshift left back. The second goal came immediately after Barça’s kickoff. Leganés nicked the ball and a hopeful pass over the pass to Youssef El-Nesyri was horribly cleared by Gerard Pique. He hooked it straight to the onrushing Oscar Rodriguez who punished the visitors.
Spirited Leganés
The home crowd went into raptures after the comeback. Barcelona did regain control of the game however. They desperately pushed for an equalizer and only came close in the 80th minute but were denied by two world class saves from Ivan Cuellar.
Barça looked really off their game in the second half. Even Sergio Busquets put in a poor shift, which is something one rarely hears. Messi, after having a great first half, seemed to get less and less of the ball and to everyone’s surprise even misplaced a few passes which he generally completes with his eyes closed. Not enough control in midfield and shaky performances across the board. The defense looks especially worrying for Barcelona fans. Pique has made three errors leading to three goals in the last two games. He will be looking to sharpen up at the back and so will his partners.
All in all, a major slip up for Barcelona but a historic result for Mauricio Pellegrino’s side. A hard fought 2-1 win. Ernesto Valverde however, will have to seriously rethink his plans for the long season that lies ahead.
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