Pedri gives Barça a valuable victory in Montilivi

The Barcelona team ended up asking for the time and with Gavi, Pedri, who today played his 100th game as a Barça player, and Alejandro Balde as the most advanced players, but lmanaged to tie the third 1-0 in a row in the premiere of the ‘senyera’ shirt and increase the advantage over Madrid to six points while waiting for their match against Real Sociedad.

Girona, for their part, fought one on one, but he was unable to fit in to pierce the goal of Marc-André ter Stegen and added the second defeat in a row, although it will continue out of relegation.

The match was inaugurated with a great measured pass of Rodrigo Riquelme behind the defense for Yan Couto that the Brazilian did not know how to make profitable in the area.

Barça dominated possession without appeal in the first half (65%) and much of the game was concentrated on the rojiblanco field. But the Barcelona control turned out to be sterile and useless because Xavi’s players could not find a way to overcome the local defense, calm despite the absence of Santi Bueno and David López. Girona, stripped of the ball and condemned to withdraw, trusted their options in transitions.

In fact, the only two half-clear chances for Barça in the first half came more from local demerit than visiting merit, the result of two errors by Girona at the start of the game. The first resulted in a shot from Dembélé to Gazzaniga’s body and the second, in a high shot from outside the area by Ansu Fati, as thick as his entire team in the first half.

Also, before half an hour, the barca He lost Dembélé due to injury, who requested the change after noticing a puncture in his left thigh after a sprint.

There would only be two more arrivals before the break, one per side, without too much danger: a Chilean from Taty Castellanos from the front that went far from the goal and a meek shot from Pedri, Dembélé’s emergency substitute, at the hands of Paulo Gazzaniga.

Xavi turned to Jordi Alba at the break, for Marcos Alonso, to seek to give depth to his team, gray and frustrated: he saw four yellow cards from minute 40 to 50 and accumulated crosses into the area despite not having any auctioneer like Robert Lewandowski, youStill low due to sanction.

Barca’s goal came in the 61st minute, the result of a new local concession. Juanpe Ramírez made a mistake when delivering the ball to an opponent in his attempt to clear and Gazzaniga failed to try to neutralize Jordi Alba’s low cross for Pedri. The canary, leader of the team, holed the ball at will and sang the 0-1.

Girona did not give up and ended the game in the rival area, with Barça asking for the time and Marc André ter Stegen wasting time. The locals had the goal of the tie in the boots of Iván Martín, but his shot from the small area, totally alone, went wide.