Lamine Yamal marked his return with an assist as substitute Ronald Araujo rescued a late win for Barcelona against Girona, sparing a wasteful Marcus Rashford’s blushes in the process. In a frantic end to the game, that Barca won at the death 2-1, head coach Hansi Flick was sent off – a costly red card that means he’ll be forced to watch next week’s Clasico from the stands.
Injury-hit Barca were looking to end a two-game losing run and all without Joan Garcia, Robert Lewandowski, Dani Olmo and Raphinha, with Flick forced to name a weakened team as a result. Yamal, who was back in action after injury, did make the starting XI, though, and provided his fourth assist of the season for Pedri early in the first half as the hosts made their dominance count.
Girona were level in the 20th minute through an acrobatic Axel Witsel effort and could have doubled their advantage had Wojciech Szczesny not made smart stops to deny Vladyslav Vanat and Portu in quick succession. Rashford then smashed a free-kick off the crossbar on the half-hour mark as the Blaugrana aimed to make home advantage count.
Barcelona continued to huff and puff after the break, with Fermin Lopez, who was introduced at half-time, looking lively having struck the woodwork shortly after the restart. Pau Cubarsi then saw a second-half goal ruled out, while Rashford fluffed his lines from close range as Girona came close to securing an unlikely point.
However, the resolve was broken in second-half injury time as Araujo bagged a late winner and Barcelona’s superiority paid off at the death.
GOAL rates Barcelona’s players from the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys…
