Barcelona took on Girona at home to mark the first Catalan derby of the season and the match seemed to have it all. The men in red and blue got off to a good start and were playing really well after manager Ernesto Valverde had made quite a few changes to his starting eleven. Messi started things off with a goal around the 19th minute mark having come agonisingly close to scoring once already. Girona however kept looking for opportunities to hit Barca on the break. Pique came up with a goal-line clearance before Clement Lenglet was sent off in the 33rd minute. He won the ball cleanly but his raised elbow hit Pere Pons in the face which earned him a straight red. The referee seemed convinced and wouldn’t change his decision even after consulting VAR. Seemed a little harsh from where we were watching. Barcelona conceded the first goal of the match right before the halftime whistle and Girona was right back in it.
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Thesecond half began and all of a sudden Barcelona were in deep trouble having conceded the second goal 5 minutes into the half. Messi came very close to scoring again as his freekick clipped the top of the crossbar and went out of play around the hour mark. Girona’s lead didn’t last long as Barcelona got the equalizer 2 minutes later through a Gerard Pique header. 10-man Barcelona pushed really hard as they created a flurry of chances in the second half but could not find the back of the net and had to settle for a point.
Real Madrid on the other hand had a pretty successful weekend as they went past Espanyol to close the 2-point gap between them and league leaders Barcelona. The match wasn’t very eventful as Asensio scored Madrid’s winner and the only goal of the night. The goal however was initially ruled offside but was later considered after the intervention of the Video Assistant Referee. With this win, Real Madrid have the same number of points as Barcelona but are still on the second spot on goal difference. Valencia and Villareal played out a nil-nil draw in a match that saw the Valencia captain DaniParejo sent off. This weekend saw an unusual number of red cards produced- 7 red cards in six out of ten matches.
Atletico Madrid won 2-0 against Getafe who were also reduced to 10 men. Ivan Alejo was shown a straight red for his challenge on Saul, after spending 4 minutes on the field having come on as a substitute. Sevilla won big this weekend, defeating Levante 6-2 in their backyard. Wissam Ben Yedder became the first Sevilla player to score a first half hat trick in this century.
Here’s a quick look at the results of the rest of the fixtures from this weekend:
RayoVallecano 1-5 Alaves
Huesca 0-1 Real Sociedad
Eibar 1-0 Leganes
CeltaVigo 3-3 Valladolid
Real Betis 2-2 Athletic Bilbao
