Barcelona moved seven points clear of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga after defeating Leganés 1-0 courtesy of Jorge Sáenz’s second half own goal.
The relegation candidates were feisty and caused the league leaders problems at the Estadio Municipal de Butarque as they were forced to work hard for all three points against Borja Giménez’s side.
Dani Raba saw his header ruled out for offside in the second half before a crucial stoppage-time tackle from Iñigo Martínez saw Barcelona take all three points back to Catalonia, while Leganés remain in the relegation zone.
As it happened
Barcelona started the game well, advancing forwards and looking to create, but the first opportunity fell to the hosts. Raba got the better of Jules Koundé down the left and he squared the ball to the advancing Adriá Altimira, but Wojciech Szczęsny made an important save to keep the league leaders level at the Estadio Municipal de Butarque.
Marko Dmitrović was called into action with an excellent save to deny Koundé. The Frenchman beat his man with a superb touch that presented himself with a shooting opportunity. His effort took an almighty deflection, which looked like it was destined to wrong foot the Serbian keeper, but he managed to get across and palm the ball away from danger.
Embed from Getty ImagesFrom a corner, Fermín López floated the ball to the unmarked Raphinha and the Brazilian took the ball down well, but his effort was wild and the ball sailed wide of the target. Lamine Yamal came close too, as he fired into the side netting.
The Leganés supporters were making plenty of noise and their side responded. Yan Diomande brilliantly found Raba, who took the ball in his stride and faced up the Barcelona backline before driving to the edge of the box, but he smashed his effort wide of the target.
The Blaugrana still posed a threat as Raphinha immediately after whipped in a pinpoint cross picking out Fermín, but he couldn’t guide his header on target.
Leganés held out to the interval and Giménez would be fairly happy with his side’s performance, while Hansi Flick decided to tinker with his side. Ronald Araújo was sacrificed, with Frenkie de Jong taking his place.
It took Flick’s men only three minutes to take the lead courtesy of the unfortunate Sáenz. Eric Garciá won the ball high and sent it on to Raphinha. The captain delivered a low cross that caused chaos. Sáenz attempted to send it wide but was ultimately unsuccessful and inadvertently diverted the ball into his own net, as the league leaders wheeled away in celebration.
Embed from Getty ImagesFermín was inches away from a sensational solo goal to double the lead, as a cleared cross was chested down and the Spainard slalomed his way past three Leganés players before whipping his effort just wide.
Los Pepineros started to get back into the game as Adrià Altimira’s cross picked out Raba before he planted his header past Szczęsny, however the linesman immediately raised his flag and the goal was disallowed. In an instant, another chance fell to the hosts as two substitutes combined through Juan Cruz’s delivery which picked out the newly introduced Diego García, whose sliding effort at full stretch ended up just the wrong side of the post.
In stoppage time, Raba looked like he was away clean through on goal, but Martínez produced an incredible last-ditch tackle to take the ball away from the striker as Barcelona held out for all three points.
The result sees The Blaugrana move seven points clear of Real Madrid, while Leganés remain in the relegation zone, only two points away from safety. Up next for Flick’s men is a trip to Germany for the second leg of their Champions League clash with Borussia Dortmund. Meanwhile, Leganés will travel to Mallorca in La Liga.
The lineups
LEG: Dmitrović; Rosier, Altimira, González, Sáenz, Hernández; Cissé, Tapia, Rodríguez, Diomande; Raba
BAR: Szczęsny; Koundé, Araujo, Martínez, Balde; García, Pedri; Yamal, Fermín, Raphinha; Lewandowski
