Barcelona stunned by 1-0 loss at Almeria, fails to grow lead

Three days after exiting the Europa League Barcelona had a rare setback in the Spanish league after losing at Almeria 10Barcelona headed to southern Spain after secondplace Real Madrid was held 11 by Atletico Madrid on Saturday and had the chance to add to its sevenpoint lead at the top over its fierce rival Instead Barcelona flopped to its firstever loss to Almeria in their 16th meetingThe leaders were unable to mount a credible fightback despite having ample time to respond to striker El Bilal Toureacutes goal in the 24th minuteFor Barcelona coach Xavi Hernaacutendez his teams worst game of the season came just when it could have dealt a serious blow to Madrids bid to defend its Spanish titleIt was a difficult game and a tough day for us Xavi said We are still leaders at seven points ahead but we did not play like we should have It was our worst game of the season I think we had some fatigue that is why we rotated our starting lineup but we missed a golden chance to go up 10 pointsBarcelona hadnt lost in 13 league games with only one draw and 12 wins going back to its last defeat at Madrid in OctoberThe unexpected defeat on Sunday came after a 21 loss at Manchester United eliminated Barcelona from the Europa League after it had failed to advance from the Champions League group phase for a second consecutive year The exit from Europes secondtier competition left Barcelona with the Spanish league and domestic cup titles to play for as it tries to make good on its investment in new players last summer using cash it generated from the sale of future television revenues and other assetsAlso readMagnificent night says Erik ten Hag after Man Utd beat Barcelona 21Barcelona will now have to regroup for Thursdays visit to Real Madrid in the semifinals of the Copa del ReyAlmeria moved out of the relegation zone after earning one of its biggest winsAlmeria coach Rubi Ferrer credited his players for working working working and restricting Barcelonas movementWe did an extraordinary job Rubi said about his team that withstood a final bombardment of crosses by Barcelona Goalkeeper Fernando Martiacutenez had surprisingly little work to doOur game plan worked to perfection Rubi said umlWe are going to remember this game for a long timeNestled between trips to United and Madrid the game at a modest Almeria side that was promoted this season seemed like a good opportunity for Xavi to rest some of his firstchoice playersDefenders Jules Koundeacute Ronald Arauacutejo and Alejando Balde and forward Raphinha began the game on the bench Sergi Roberto Eacuteric Garciacutea Jordi Alba and Ferraacuten Torres started in their placeBarcelona still had Robert Lewandowski Sergio Busquets and Frenkie de Jong on the field from kickoff along with Gavi back from a onegame suspension that meant he missed the game at Old TraffordThe result however was a thirdrate performanceAfter a complacent start by Barcelona Almeria struck on a quick attack after an inspired Rodrigo Ely tackled Gavi in the hosts area and booted a long ball forward for Toureacute to control The 21yearold Mali forward exchanged quick passes with Luis Suaacuterez and blasted a powerful strike over MarcAndre ter Stegen and in off the crossbarAlmeria pressed the initiative and almost got a quick second goal when Leo Baptistao hit the post in the 27thXavi sent Raphinha on at halftime with Arauacutejo and Marcos Alonso soon following but his team did not play much better as Almeria held firm in defenseGavis shot blocked by Ely in the 59th and a shot by substitute Pablo Torre in the 82nd easily grabbed by Fernando ended up being the most that a disappointing Barcelona could musterThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever