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Barça 0-1 Leganés: Recap

Barcelona have dropped points for the fifth time in their last six _La Liga_ games thanks to a very frustrating 1-0 defeat at home to Leganés at the _Montjuïc_ Olympic Stadium. Barça conceded early and created a lot of chances to make a comeback, but were extremely wasteful in front of goal and lost their second in a row at home against a relegation candidate, and will also finish the weekend tied on points with Atlético Madrid at the top of the table ahead of their monster clash next week.

**FIRST HALF**

Barça made a horrible start, allowing Leganés to create a huge chance that resulted in a Iñaki Peña save to deny a clear opportunity for Munir El-Haddadi. But the ensuing corner was headed home by captain Sergio González, and the visitors found themselves in front less than five minutes into the action.

The _Blaugrana_ responsed well to going behind, dominating the game and creating some massive chances. But Leganés goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic had a perfect first half, making three monster saves to deny Robert Lewandowski twice and Raphinha once and keep his team in front.

The Catalans had many other really good moments that were stopped either by timely interventions by the visitors’ defense or poor decisions by the Barça attackers, and the likes of Lamine Yamal and Dani Olmo wasted great chances of their own with bad execution on fairly easy shots inside the box.

It was hard to understand how Barça could be behind given their dominance, but they were still trailing as the halftime whistle was blown and needed to be a lot more efficient up front to find the winning goals in the second half.

**SECOND HALF**

Barça continued to dominate and pressure Leganés throughout the final period, creating real chances time after time. Jules Kounde missed two huge ones, Lewandowski missed another one himself, and Fermín López had a sure goal cleared off the line.

The _Blaugrana_ tried until the very end and had a free-kick in a perfect position at the death, but Raphinha’s effort went over the bar and the final whistle came to confirm Leganés’ unlikely victory.

This was an extremely frustrating loss in a game Barça dominated and should have won easily, but their wastefulness in front of goal cost them three huge points at home against a relegation candidate. They are still top of the table, but they’re now equal on points with a red-hot Atlético Madrid team, and the two face off next weekend.

It looks like inconsistency will be the theme of this Barça’s season, and we’ll need to get used to more games like this. It feels like Barça can beat anyone and lose to anyone, and that’s not the formula for a great team.

**Barcelona**: Peña; Kounde, Eric (Cubarsí 74’), Iñigo, Balde; Casadó (Víctor 80’), Pedri; Yamal (Gavi 75’), Olmo (Fermín 66’), Raphinha; Lewandowski (Ferran 66’)

Goals: _None_

**Leganés**: Dmitrovic; Altimira, González, Sáenz, Tapia (Brasanac 45+2’), Hernández; Munir (Nastasic 58’), Cissé (Raba 82’), Neyou, Oscar; Miguel (García 58’)

Goal: _González (4’)_

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