Barcelona scrape past Girona to move 6 points clear in La Liga

Barcelona struggled for much of Saturday afternoon’s fixture against Girona, but ultimately, they have come away with three valuable points in the race for the La Liga title after a 1-0 win.

Xavi Hernandez made four changes to the team that started Wednesday’s Copa del Rey victory over Real Sociedad, with Eric Garcia, Marcos Alonso, Raphinha and Ansu Fati all starting against their Catalan rivals. They started like a team without much time playing together, and Girona easily counteracted them.

Things got worse for Barca when Wednesday’s matchwinner Ousmane Dembele went off injured after just 25 minutes, although the Frenchman stayed on the bench, which suggests that the injury wasn’t as bad as initially feared.

His replacement was Pedri, who made his 100th appearance was Barcelona by coming on, and he marked it with the winning goal. Gavi’s ball out to Fati allowed Jordi Alba to overlap, and the young forward picked out Alba, whose cross was turned home by Pedri.

The goal was Pedri’s fourth in La Liga this season, and his second in as many games after netting the winner in last week’s fixture against Getafe. Despite the hosts increasing their intensify after falling behind, Barca held on to all three points.

The win moves Barcelona six points clear at the summit of La Liga, with Real Madrid taking on third placed Real Sociedad at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday.