BARCELONA — It was a routine win for Barcelona as they beat Almeria 2-0 on Saturday night at Camp Nou to move to the top of the LaLiga table. But the match wasn’t really about that.
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Longtime Barcelona defender Gerard Pique played his final match in front of home fans after he announced that he will retire when the Spanish league breaks for the World Cup this month.
Here is ESPN’s Sam Marsden with reaction and analysis from Camp Nou.
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Rapid reaction
1. Wasteful Barca find shooting boots to go top
Barcelona may have feared this would be one of those nights at halftime. They managed 16 shots in the first half and had an xG of 2.53 — the highest on record in a scoreless first half since 2010-11 — but had no goals to show for their efforts. Robert Lewandowski had missed a penalty, and Ferran Torres alone had wasted six chances at an xG of 0.99. At the other end, only a brilliant save from Marc-Andre ter Stegen to keep out Largie Ramazani kept Almeria out.
However, any fears of failing to break down Almeria’s five-man backline quickly evaporated after the break. Ousmane Dembele opened the scoring in the 48th minute with a fine solo goal, cutting in from the right to finish low in the bottom corner after a raking pass from Sergio Busquets. De Jong added the second just after the hour mark, turning home after Ansu Fati‘s shot was saved.
In the end, the win was as routine as they come. It takes Barca top of the league, temporarily at least, two points clear of Real Madrid, who travel to Rayo Vallecano on Sunday. Aside from last month’s loss to Madrid, it’s been an almost perfect season for Barca domestically so far: 11 wins, one draw and just that solitary defeat at the Santiago Bernabeu.
