Barça’s Champions League rival Juventus have temporarily moved nine points clear at the top of Serie A after defeating Chievo Verona with a goal in each half from Gonzalo Higuaín. Second placed Roma are away to Bologna on Sunday.
Juve boss Massimiliano Allegri made a few changes, especially in defence, clearly with a view to the clash with the Catalans in mind, but it was still by and large his strongest eleven that he put out.
Griezmann leaves it late
In LaLiga, Barça’s 2-0 defeat at Málaga was made all the more painful by the fact that they had had the chance to match leaders Real Madrid point-for-point at the top of the table after the derby in the Spanish capital had ended 1-1.
Pepe, who fractured two ribs and is likely to be out for around a month, put Real one-up at the Bernabéu. But a cracking goal from Antoine Griezmann five minutes from the end meant it ended all-square.
Those were the two points that Barça needed Madrid to drop in order to get their destiny back in their own hands, but unfortunately failed to capitalise on that at La Rosaleda.
After Juventus, next up for Barça is a visit from Real Sociedad in LaLiga on Saturday at 8.45pm CET (TICKETS HERE). Before that, the Basques are in action in Monday night’s Liga game, away to Sporting Gijon at 8.45pm CET.
