Barcelona continues to shine and beat Girona 4-1
Barcelona achieved its fifth consecutive victory in Spanish League Football club made its best start since the 2017-2018 season, beating its neighbor, host Girona, 4-1 on Sunday, in the fifth round.
Barcelona’s four goals were scored by Moroccan-born Lamine Yamal (30 and 37), Dani Olmo, the new arrival from German Leipzig (47), and Pedri (64).
Uruguayan substitute Cristhian Stuani scored Girona’s only goal (80).
“We had to start the season well, in other years we didn’t start the season the way we wanted to and on top of that the coach told us that,” Pedri told Movistar after the big win over Girona.
Lamine Yamal, Barcelona star (Reuters)
“(He told us) that we have to push hard from the first game, and that winning the league is achieved above all in these first games if we continue to widen the gap, so let’s continue in the same way.”
The club achieved Catalan Under the supervision of its new German coach Hansi Flick, it has had an ideal start, its best since the 2017-2018 season, when it won its first seven matches, with a full harvest thanks to the victories it achieved, including the crushing victory over Valladolid 7-0, thanks to the first hat-trick in the career of the Brazilian Rafinha.
Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal celebrates scoring his first goal with Jules Kounde and Pedri (Reuters)
Full mark
Barcelona continued to lead the league with a full score of 15 points, 4 points ahead of the capital’s two poles, Atletico, who defeated Valencia 3-0, and Real, the title holder, who defeated Real Sociedad 2-0 on Saturday, and Villarreal, who are fourth.
Barcelona, who took revenge on their neighbor Girona by losing both home and away games last season with the same score (2-4), are preparing in the best possible way for their first European title when they face hosts Monaco in the Champions League on Thursday.
Girona, who surprised everyone last season by finishing third behind Real Madrid and Barcelona, suffered their second defeat of the season. After drawing 1-1 with Real Betis in the opening game, they fell 3-0 to Atletico Madrid, before beating Osasuna 4-0 and Sevilla 2-0, returning to the cycle of defeats against Barcelona.
Barcelona’s Jules Kounde in action against Girona’s Daley Blind (Reuters)
Girona are seventh with seven points ahead of their Champions League clash against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday.
Lamine Yamal contributed 18 goals in the last 20 matches with his team and his country’s national team, with which he won the European Championship, alongside Olmo (5 goals and 13 assists).
German goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen saved his team Barcelona from Brian Gil’s ball, who shot from six metres (44), while the referee awarded a penalty kick to Girona after a handball by defender Inigo Martinez before reversing his decision after returning to the video assistant referee (VAR) (45+2).
Barcelona started the second half as they ended the first, with new signing Olmo (26 years old) raising his team’s tally to three goals after a deep pass from Frenchman Jules Kounde on the left side, which he followed up with a through ball into a difficult corner (47).
