Granada pulls off Barcelona stunner
Print Edition
BARCELONA’S La Liga title hopes suffered a huge blow as it lost 0-1 at Granada on Saturday to slip to a second consecutive defeat.
Algerian Yacine Brahimi scored the only goal after 16 minutes as Barcelona failed to find a way past the inspired Orestis Karnezis in the Granada goal.
Defeat rounds off an awful week for Barcelona as it was also dumped out of the Champions League by Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.
The Catalans are now third in La Liga, a point behind both Real Madrid and Atletico after Real cruised to a 4-0 win over Almeria at the Santiago Bernabeu thanks to goals from Angel di Maria, Gareth Bale, Isco and Alvaro Morata.
Atletico, which now just needs to win five of its remaining six games to claim a first La Liga title in 18 years, can open up a gap at the top when it faces Getafe.
“It is a step backwards. It was just one move, for their goal, which we were punished for despite all the effort we put in,” Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta told Canal Plus.
“At times it is difficult to explain when you lose. We lacked goals, but the rest we had under control.
“We did everything to score. All we lacked was the finish, which is the most difficult part and makes the difference.”
Barcelona boss Gerardo Martino shared Iniesta’s analysis of the game and said he couldn’t fault his players’ performance as they racked up 29 efforts on goal and enjoyed over 80 percent of the possession. “We no longer have matters in our own hands, but I couldn’t ask for anything more from the players,” he said.
Martino had made four changes from the side that started Wednesday’s 0-1 defeat to Atletico with a makeshift back four made up of reserve full-backs Adriano and Martin Montoya alongside natural holding midfielders Javier Mascherano and Sergio Busquets.
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