Barcelona 3-2 Almería: Roberto's brace contributes to win in five-goal thriller

Sergi Roberto scored twice as Barcelona managed a narrow 3-2 win against bottom club Almeria that will ease talk of crisis as the fly to Dallas to play Mexican side America on Thursday.

Match Report

The club had scheduled the money-spinning game for just hours after their last league game of 2023 and it would have been a long trip to the Cotton Bowl Stadium had they slipped up again.

Instead, in front of just 34,471, they turned half time whistles into cheers with a spirited second half performance.

Roberto had been the surprise name on Xavi's teamsheet drafted into midfield in the absence of the suspended Frenkie de Jong and the lack of faith in Oriol Romeu.

He had the first chance of the game with a free header but Luis Maximiano saved at full stretch.

Barcelona are always likely to concede chances early in games and Almeria had theirs on 12 minutes but Joao Cancelo blocked Largie Ramazani's shot.

Andreas Christensen then risked a red card when he pulled down Sergio Arribas as he sprinted clear.

The fact that Ronald Araujo might have sprinted across to close down the Almeria forward saved the Dane from a straight red.

Barcelona's slow start brought whistles from another desperately low crowd inside the Olympic Stadium but Raphinha put reacted by putting the home side ahead.

Ronald Araujo headed a corner down and Baba had left the Brazilian all alone to sweep it in. He then celebrated by putting his fingers in his ears.

It should have been two shortly afterwards but Maximiano made another brilliant save this time from Robert Lewandowski turning away the Pole's low shot.

That miss seemed to lift Almeria and they were level just before the break when Leo Baptistao broke clear to score past Inaki Pena.

The flag was raised in error and VAR over-ruled the decision to mean it was 1-1 at the break – cue more whistles as the players went off at half-time.

Xavi reacted with two changes for the second half. Ferran Torres replaced Joao Felix, the cautioned Christensen was replaced by Jules Kounde. Torres made an immediate impact drawing two quick saves from Maximiano.

The first was from an intelligent flick from Lewandowski. The Almeria keeper then saved from a fierce Lewandowski shot.

Finally Barcelona were back in front and it was simple when it came. Raphinha curled in a corner and Roberto sent it past Maximiano with a glancing header. They had been lucky to get the corner because the last touch was from Alejandro Balde.

Once captain Roberto had settled the nerves it should have been easy but Lewandowski spurned another opportunity and again they paid for the miss because Barcelona conceded again – it was their 21st goal against, one more than in all of last season.

Keeper Pena came for a cross but with Araujo backing into him he dropped onto Edgar's toe and the Almeria centre-back made it 2-2.

Barcelona should have retaken the lead but again Lewandowski's aim was off. His diving headache effectively cleared Cancelo's clever cross. He clattered into the post in the process; nothing is going for Barcelona's number nine.

He kept going though and with seven minutes left he set up the winner with a divine pass into Roberto who got his second goal of the night.

Almeria kept pushing for a third goal and when Baba headed goalwards it looked as though they might have a third equaliser but Pena made amends for his earlier error with the save that sealed the win.

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

5' Yellow Card! Pozo booked

7' CLOSE! Maximiano denies Roberto’s effort

13' CLOSE! Raphinha’s shot wide out

15' Yellow Card! Raphinha booked

21' Yellow Card! Christensen booked

33' GOAL! Barcelona 1-0 Almería (Raphinha)

37' Lewandowski’s powerful strike stopped by Maximiano

43' GOAL! Barcelona 1-1 Almería (Baptistao)

47' CLOSE! Maximiano denies Ferran Torres’ effort

52' Lewandowski’s powerful strike stopped by Maximiano

57' Yellow Card! Dion Lopy booked

60' GOAL! Barcelona 2-1 Almería (Roberto)

71' GOAL! Barcelona 2-2 Almería (Edgar González)

77' Unbelievable! What a miss from Gundogan!

83' GOAL! Barcelona 3-2 Almería (Roberto)

90' Yellow Card! Ronald Araújo booked

Line-ups

Barcelona XI: Lewandowski, Gundogan, Roberto, Cancelo, Christensen, Pena, Raphinha, Ronald Araújo, Felix, Álex Baldé, Fermín López

Subs: Romeu, Ferran Torres, Kounde, Marc Casadó, Ander Astralaga, Lamine Yamal, Unai Hernández, Héctor Fort, Pau Cubarsí, Pau Prim, Diego Kochen, Marc Guiu

Almería XI: Baptistao, Chumi, Edgar González, Sergio Akieme, César Montes, Pozo, Luís Maximiano, Iddrisu Baba, Ramazani, Dion Lopy, Sergio Arribas

Subs: Diego Mariño, Fernando Martínez, Adrián Embarba, Houboulang Mendes, Álex Centelles, Arnau Martinez, Lázaro, Kaiky, Marciano Sanca, Marcos Peña, Rachad Fettal