FC Barcelona made a concentrated appearance at newly promoted Huesca and won a deserved 1-0 win. For a long time, Blaugrana made it unnecessarily exciting against a weak bottom of the table.
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Competitors FC Sevilla and Real Sociedad, who are ahead of FC Barcelona in the table, failed to win at the weekend, so Barça made up ground to the top ranks with a win in Huesca.
The endeavor to win away from bottom of the table Huesca went to Ronald Koeman again with Lionel Messi, but without Antoine Griezmann, the French only sat on the bench. Ousmane Dembélé was preferred, while Clement Lenglet pushed youngster Oscar Mingueza onto the bench in defense.
Dembélé aktiv – de Jong rewards Barça
In this formation, Barça took command from the start, while Huesca was extremely low and only barricaded the penalty area. The Catalans had their first really good chance after seven minutes, when Pedri, after Alba’s cross, was not able to maneuver the ball correctly on goal from five meters away. Shortly thereafter, Messi dropped kick on the second post.
Barça continued to steam, the active Dembélé pulled in a remarkable sprint in minute 19, in the end the ball landed again in front of his feet, but his promising shot was blocked by a Huesca defender with the face in dire need. Only two minutes later, Pedri forgave again completely free standing in front of the goal, this time with his head (21st).
Barcelona should have led long ago, finally rewarded themselves for their brisk performance: Messi saw de Jong run into the penalty area and served it with an exemplary half-field flank, the Dutchman held his foot from close range and met with a volley to make the long overdue 1-0 for the Blaugrana (27.).
Messi fails twice at Fernandez
Even after falling behind, nothing came from Huesca, with Messi missing the second goal minutes before half-time when goalkeeper Alvaro Fernandez fished La Pulgas ‘strong free kick out of the corner (42’). So it stayed 1-0 for the break for the Koeman team, which acted strong and focused.
The basic alignment did not change after the break: Barcelona had the ball, Huesca was low and waited for the counterattack. The action remained clear until the 60th minute, then Messi gave off a scented label, but missed his shot from a good 16 meters. Otherwise, however, the speed of the Barcelona game was noticeably out of control, the Catalans took it easy in view of the lead, while Huesca themselves made no real effort to be more offensive or courageous.
In the 68th minute, Messi had a great chance to clear things up, but he failed from a tight angle to keeper Fernandez. A little later, Dembélé tangled free in front of the promoted goalkeeper. Barça could not open the lid against a weak opponent, so the Catalans had to shake unnecessarily at the narrow lead.
But Huesca was too weak that evening, the Blaugrana managed the event until the end without sweating too much and ultimately won a well-deserved, if unnecessarily narrow, 1-0. With the away win, FC Barcelona climbed to fifth place in the table, but they are only two points behind third-placed Real Sociedad – and on Wednesday in the catch-up game at Athletic Bilbao they have the chance of even third place in La Ligas with another away three climb up.
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