Ronald Araujo scored deep into second-half stoppage time to give Barcelona all three points against Girona and lift Hansi Flick’s side to the top of LaLiga.
Pedri gave Barca the lead less than 15-minutes in only for Girona to hit back with a wonderful goal from Axel Witsel.
Barca dominated for most of the match thereafter but a combination of squandered chances and resolute defending kept the reigning champions at bay.
That was until the 94th minute when Araujo steered in a Frenkie de Jong cross to send the home fans inside Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys into a frenzy of jubilation and relief.
The result means Flick’s men leapfrog rivals Real Madrid – for 24 hours at least – while Girona remain second bottom.
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Hosts start well but Witsel wonder goal draws visitors level
Lamine Yamal threatened early on with an audacious piece of trickery out wide but the subsequent finish lacked the same class.
The teenager then played his part in the breakthrough, finding Pedri with his back to goal in the opposition box. The young midfielder still had plenty to do, but somehow found an opening for himself after jinking across the area, hitting a neat left-footed reverse shot that nestled into the bottom corner.
It was what the hosts deserved. However, just when it looked like Barca were in cruise control, Witsel scored with a sublime bicycle kick to bring Girona level less than 10 minutes later.
Barca again started to dominate and went close to regaining the lead shortly before the half-hour mark when Marcus Rashford crashed a wonderful curling free-kick against the underside of the bar.
Yamal then tried an acrobatic effort of his own from Rashford’s deflected cross but failed to find the target.
Opportunities aplenty go begging
Girona’s chances were few and far between. But as the old bus adage goes, they had two in quick succession before the break.
First, Bryan Gil beat Barca’s high defensive line and charged down on Wojciech Szczesny, but the former Tottenham player’s finish was rash and the ball sailed harmlessly wide of the goal.
Witsel perhaps then should have grabbed his second if the day when he was picked out by Alex Moreno’s cut-back. But, like Gil, the experienced Belgian failed to have the required composure and he sent his side-footed effort past the post.
With the rain bucketing down, the floodgates failed to open in front of goal. From a corner, Pau Cubarsi had a strike chalked off after Eric Garcia was adjudged to have committed a foul in the build-up.
Rashford twice went close and Fermin lashed an effort wide as time seemed to be ticking away for Flick’s men.
The visitors defended valiantly until the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time when De Jong’s low cross was turned in by Araujo to claim all three points and, temporarily at least, lift the Catalan club to the summit of LaLiga.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: 101greatgoals.com
