FC Barcelona 3-2 Almería: Three much-needed points

FC Barcelona made very heavy work indeed of seeing off bottom-of-the-table and winless Almería on Wednesday night in a game where anything other than three points would have presented Liga frontrunners Girona and Real Madrid with the opportunity to further widen the gap between themselves and the defending champions.

It was a dominant display from start to finish from the Catalans, but twice they took the lead and twice the visitors managed to muster an equaliser, with the winner finally coming in the 83rd minute.

Sergi’s day

On a night when Xavi had an injury to Pedri and a suspended Frenkie de Jong to add to his headaches, the man who stepped up to save the day was captain and veteran Sergi Roberto.

Both the second and third goals of the night came from the number 20, a man who has saved the team so many times in the past, and who clearly intends on doing so again.

And speaking after the game, the Catalan was particularly thankful to the fans. Although there had been a few whistles, the majority of the supporters at the Estadi Olimpic stuck by the team to the very end, and that belief, says Sergi Roberto, is precisely what pushed the team over the line.

Raphinha opener cancelled out

It took just over half and hour to break the deadlock. It had been half an hour of relentless Barça pressure but the home fans were beginning to get a little impatient that it had yet to produce anything in the way of goals.

Almería keeper Luís Maximiano had already done brilliantly to prevent Sergio Roberto from heading in from a corner, and then he did the same to deny Ronald Araujo. But this time he couldn’t hold onto the ball and Raphinha was the quickest man onto the rebound.

Portuguese stopper Maximiano was having a blinder and impeded a golden opportunity for Robert Lewandowski to make it 2-0 moments before his side stunned Montjuic by nabbing an equaliser.

Brazilian forward Léo Baptistão looked to be narrowly offside, but the VAR room disagreed.

Almería hit back a second time

Barça had again done far more to deserve a second when that one finally came. Another corner. And again Sergio Roberto, this time from a much harder angle but with a much better outcome.

Barça were back in command and from there looked to be motoring towards a big win. But a third goal didn’t want to materialise and instead the Andalusians once again produced an unexpected response.

Iñaki Peña, unbalanced by his own team-mate Araujo, fumbled a high cross and ended up dropping the ball right at the feet of Edgar González, who unfortunately lapped up the gift and we were now 2-2.

Sergi Roberto again!

When Lewandowski and Ilkay Gündoğan blundered what should have been Barça’s third, one could have been forgiven for fearing that this just wasn’t going to be Barça’s day.

But captain Sergi R had other ideas. He collected Lewandowski’s assist superbly and finished with the kind of composure that the blaugrana forward line has been lacking of late. A tremendous finish, and for the third time of the evening, Barça looked to have the game sorted.

Sergi would also find time to rifle a shot onto the crossbar in what turned out to be a nervous wait for the final whistle, in which a simply extraordinary Peña save prevented Iddrisu Baba from delivering a nasty late twist in the tale.

Three crucial points in the bag and then the players departed straight for the airport. Next stop Dallas… Força Barça!