FC Barcelona 4-1 Girona FC: Derby victory

Coming just three days after the 3-0 defeat of Osasuna, Barça were back out on the Estadi Olímpic field this Sunday for the Catalan derby with Girona. It was no easy ride, but they ended up rolling home comfortable 4-1 winners, and will spend another week three points clear of Real Madrid, who came from behind to beat Leganés 3-2 the night before.

Barça took the lead thanks to an own goal just before half-time, and although Girona did find an equaliser, the home side turned up the heat in the final minutes with Robert Lewandowski (2) and Ferran Torres sealing all three points for an extraordinary ninth game in a row.

Rewarded at last

With 72% of the possession, Barça should have been leading long before they finally did find the net on 43 minutes.

The main reason Barça hadn’t converted any of their host of attempts was Paulo Gazzaniga, outstanding in the Girona goal, his save to deny a Ronald Araujo header probably the best of his many interventions.

One of the biggest talking points of the half was whether a push on Fermin López’s back had been inside or outside the box… the referee eventually deciding, much to the home fans’ rage, that it hadn’t been a push at all!

There could be less arguing that Jules Kounde’s well-taken goal was offside, but Barça finally found the lead with more than a little fortune.

Lamine Yamal was having a typically brilliant game, and it was his free-kick that produced what will not go down as the most graceful goal of his career. Initially, it was hard to work out how the ball went in at all… it had taken a deflection off Ladislav Krejcí’s hand, utterly flummoxing Gazzaniga and trickling over the Girona line.

Moment of doubt

By no means a beautiful goal, but it was no less than Barça deserved and they went in at the break comfortable 1-0 leaders, and against a side winless in its last six outings, things were on sweet course for a three more points.

Hence it was a most unexpected blow when Girona pulled level just a few minutes into the second half. Daley Blind nabbed the moment, playing his Dutch compatriot Arnaut Danjuma through, and much to the home fans' dismay, it was 1-1.

Back in charge

Time for Mr Pichichi to set things straight. Just eight minutes later and a tremendous series of quickfire passes ended with Fermín López supplying the killer header. It didn’t look like Lewandowski would be able to reach it, but his outstretched foot somehow made the contact required to re-established Barça’s lead.

That was 24 league goals for the Pole, and it would be 25 before the day was out.

The Mexican wave around the stadium had perhaps started a little earlier than advisable, for another Girona equaliser was by no means out of the question. But the celebrations could truly start when the third goal went in. Frenkie de Jong played the supporting role and the finish was as exquisite as we could expect from a man like Lewandowski. 3-1, and the three-point lead at the top of the table was safely restored.

Just to make sure, Ferran Torres fired home a Gerard Martín assist five minutes from the end, his fourth goal in three games and ninth in total this season, and the crossbar denied Lamine the chance to top a wonderful afternoon with what would have been the most stunning of goals.

Next up for Barça is the continuation of their Copa del Rey semi-final with Atlético Madrid on Wednesday, while La Liga resumes with a game at home to Real Betis on Saturday.