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Barcelona beat Girona 1-0, but lost winger Ousmane Dembele in the process
Barcelona recovered well from losing Ousmane Dembele early in the game to see out a 1-0 away win over Girona in La Liga.
The league leaders lost Dembele after only 26 minutes but found a winner in the second half through Pedri, who replaced the injured Dembele.
The win sees Barcelona open up a six point gap at the top of the table, but leaves them sweating over the fitness of Dembele, who has been one of their best players this season.
Barcelona were far from their brilliant best in the Catalan derby but did enough to grab a 1-0 win that sees them extend their unbeaten run in the league to 13 matches since their loss to Real Madrid, which remains their only loss in La Liga.
How it happened
Barcelona dominated early proceedings as expected and pinned Girona back in their own half for much of the first half, but were largely unable to break down the Gironistes, who were prepared to soak up the pressure and try to hit Barcelona on the counter.
Barcelona’s efforts during the match and concerning the season as a whole were dealt a blow when winger Ousmane Dembele pulled up after 25 minutes and subsequently asked to be substituted.
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He was replaced by Pedri for the rest of the first half as both teams played out a 0-0 draw at the break with few clear chances.
The second half was far more lively than the first, and on the hour mark, Pedri, who replaced the injured Dembele, scored from a tap-in at the far post from Jordi Alba’s cross to give Barcelona the lead.
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The rest of the second half was marked by a brilliant performance from Barcelona’s goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter-Stegen and profligate finishing from Girona forwards who failed to make the best of chances that fell their way, especially subsititute Ivan Martin who fired wide from Girona’s best chance in the game.
Barcelona win, but lose Dembele
Barcelona would have been happy to secure three more points towards their aim of winning LaLiga come the end of the season, but will also rue the injury to Dembele which puts that goal in jeopardy.
Dembele, who has had a sordid injury record with Barcelona, is now set for another spell on the sidelines, and the title contenders will hope that he can return to fitness as soon as possible to continue his impresive work from the season so far.
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