Girona 0-1 Barcelona: Player ratings as Pedri taps home another winner
By Tom Gott
Barcelona made it eight straight victories with an uncomfortable 1-0 win over Girona on Saturday.
Xavi's side were underwhelming for large parts of the game, profiting mainly from mistakes from the Girona back line, and it was one such error which gifted Pedri with a simple second-half tap-in to secure an ugly victory.
Barcelona, wearing their new fourth kit, had a scare early on as Yan Couto broke through on goal and forced a bit of a scramble inside the opening few minutes, but they quickly wrestled control of the ball and dominated proceedings without doing much in the final third, even spurning a glorious chance gifted to them by some poor play out from Girona's defence.
Midway through the half, Barcelona lost Ousmane Dembele to what appeared to be a hamstring injury, minutes before Ansu Fati blazed over from outside the box following some more unconvincing play from Girona's back line.
That was about as exciting as things got in the first half, with Barcelona guilty of far too many sideways passes and uninspiring moves in possession.
The second half threatened to tell a similar story but, on the hour mark, Jordi Alba's low cross was inexplicably spilled by Paulo Gazzaniga and gleefully tapped home by Pedri from close range.
Girona nearly found a way back in 12 minutes later as Cristhian Stuani looked set for a header from point-black range, but Ronald Araujo did well to divert the ball away on the line.
Raphinha had a chance to tap home a goal of his own late on but lost his footing at the crucial moment and collapsed to the ground as Girona cleared their lines.
That mistake was nearly punished five minutes from time as the ball was put on a plate for Ivan Martin just a few yards out, but he slammed what was perhaps the best chance of the game well wide of the goal, allowing Barcelona to escape with all three points.
Girona boss Michel was shown a red card for dissent on the touchline in the dying embers, frustrated that his side could not take advantage of their late dominance in the game.
Girona player ratings
GK: Paulo Gazzaniga (4); RB: Arnau Martinez (6); CB: Juanpe (5); CB: Bernardo (6); LB: Miguel Gutierrez (7); DM: Oriol Romeu (6); RM: Yan Couto (6); CM: Yangel Herrera (5); CM: Aleix Garcia (6); LM: Rodrigo Riquelme (5); ST: Valentin Castellanos (5)
Substitutes: Valery Fernandez (6), Toni Villa (5), Cristhian Stuani (5), Joel Roca (N/A), Ivan Martin (N/A)
Barcelona player ratings (4-3-3)
GK: Marc-Andre ter Stegen - 6/10 - Barely involved at all but had to be alive in the dying embers to keep Barcelona ahead.
RB: Jules Kounde - 5/10 - Offered a little bit going forwards and was impressive at the back, although his limited passing ability was a bit of an issue against a stubborn back line.
CB: Ronald Araujo - 6/10 - Excellent passing and solid enough defensively. Didn't really need to get out of second gear.
CB: Eric Garcia - 5/10 - A few shaky moments at the back over on the weakest side of Barcelona's defence.
LB: Marcos Alonso - 1/10 - Celebrated signing his new contract with one of the most anonymous performances you will ever see.
DM: Sergio Busquets - 4/10 - A lot of sideways passing without any real ambition whatsoever. Too slow for a game like this.
CM: Gavi - 6/10 - Really underwhelming in the first half as he was forced out wide to replace Dembele, but he stepped up his urgency after the break.
CM: Frenkie de Jong - 5/10 - Made the odd nice run to try and make something happen but wasn't as impactful as you'd expect. Struggled to find his place in the system.
RW: Raphinha - 4/10 - The most dangerous of any of Barcelona's forwards but still far too wasteful. Crossing the ball into 5'8 Gavi didn't work, surprisingly.
ST: Ansu Fati - 2/10 - Couldn't get involved whatsoever. So stationary when waiting for the ball. Has to do more as the team's focal point.
LW: Ousmane Dembele - 5/10 - Tweaked his hamstring midway through the first half and had to ask to come off.
Substitutes
Pedri (25' for Dembele) - 7/10 - Took a little while to get going but made the telling impact after the break.
Jordi Alba (46' for Alonso) - 6/10 - A significant upgrade on Alonso. Bagged the important assist, with a little help from Gazzaniga, but wasn't all that convincing in defence.
Alejandro Balde (81' for Fati) - N/A
Franck Kessie (88' for Raphinha) - N/A
Manager
Xavi - 5/10 - Cut a frustrated figure during the first half as his team offered nothing in attack. Made the right call to swap out Alonso but you didn't need to be a genius to work that one out. Failed to show the ability to shift tactic to break Girona down.