A splendid last-minute goal by Antonio Puertas of Granada handed Barcelona a draw. Barcelona scored first despite a hard time against a weak Granada. The La Liga match was drawn 1-1 at the Nuevo Los Cármenes stadium on Saturday night. Antonio Puertas leveled the score after Barcelona took the lead with a goal from Luuk de Jong. Barcelona drew three in the last five rounds in the league, winning the other two.
Both teams could have taken a lead in the first half
Barcelona could have had a great start to the match. In the seventh minute of the First Half, Gavi made a superb cross from the left. And Luuk de Jong evaded the defender guarding him in the D-box and headed the ball into the net. Unfortunately, Gavi was a little offside early in the build-up process and the VAR disallowed the goal. Granada also could have taken the lead in the 26th minute. However, Marc-Andre ter Stegen saved Darwin Machís‘ low shot from the left side of the box.
Great return of Dani Alves to Barcelona
Jong’s disappointment of not getting a goal early in the match was removed in the 57th minute. This time, the Dutch forward scored with a header, following a superb cross from Dani Alves from the right of the D-box. Although a defender, Alves is very good at making attacks, which we had observed in numerous occasions in the eight years of his first term in Barcelona. Successively, in the first league appearance of the second term, the Brazilian right-back once again proved his ability in assisting goals.
Antonio Puertas salvaged Granada from a defeat
In the 79th minute of the match, the referee showed Gavi second yellow card for fouling Alex Collado. Consequently, Barca fans feared of losing points again as the Catalan giants were down to the 10-man squad. Moreover, Granada also increased attacks. Two minutes later, the team’s midfielder Luis Milla‘s shot did not find the net as Ter Stegen saved the shot. Granada equalized in the 89th minute as they continuously held the pressure. The Spanish midfielder Antonio Puertas scored with a powerful shot to the top left corner of the goal post when the Barca defenders failed to clear a ball flew in from the corner.
Position in the La Liga Table
Barcelona are sixth in the points table with 32 points from 20 matches, while Granada are 13th with 24 points from 20 matches.
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