An incredible surprise. Three days after the draw conceded at Camp Nou against Girona, FC Barcelona conceded on Wednesday night its first defeat in the league, on the pitch of Leganés (2-1), the Red Lantern of Liga. A stop that opens the door to Real Madrid, which could take the lead alone in case of a favourable result in Seville.
The last face to the first, the outcome was obvious… and yet. Against the Leganés Red Lantern, FC Barcelona was defeated in the outskirts of Madrid by his opponent at Butarque Stadium (2-1), this Wednesday in Liga’s 6th game. With their first setback of the season in six games, the men of Valverde see their leader’s chair threatened while Real Madrid have the same number of points (13) and face Seville.
With a team that has been somewhat remodelled in view of the deadlines ahead – a match every three days and a shock on Tottenham’s pitch on Wednesday in the champions League-it didn’t take Barça long to get under way. Dembélé, the attacking starting star just like Umtiti in defence, was the first of a shot in the small net (7′) before Coutinho, of a superb volley, opened the scoring (12′).
While Barça stepped up their domination and Messi shook Cuéllar’s crosshairs with a coiled shot (17th), the Blaugrana weren’t really dangerous after that, shooting only five times in the first period and exposing themselves to the opposition.
68 seconds, watch in hand
Juanfran (25th), En-Nesyri (38th) and especially Rodriguez towards the skylight (45th) thus forced Ter Stegen to make an effort, announcing the beginnings of an improbable reversal. After the rest, Leganés ‘ players continued to push and, in 68 seconds, completely reversed the situation.
Suddenly, El Zhar (52′) and Rodriguez (53’), taking advantage of a big screw-up, gave a well-deserved success to the Valiants from Madrid, who took their first victory of the season while Barcelona had its first setback. An unlikely counter-performance for Barça, three days after an already surprising draw conceded at Camp Nou against Gerone and a week before a perilous trip to White Hart Lane.