Barcelona 0-0 Girona: Player ratings as La Liga leaders held to goalless draw
Barcelona maintained their unbeaten record at home in La Liga this season with a goalless draw with Girona at Camp Nou on Monday night.
Xavi’s side couldn’t find a way through against their mid-table opposition, with Ronald Araujo’s saved header and a near-own goal the closest they came to breaking the deadlock.
Girona showed their teeth throughout and had decent chances to score. Valentin Castellanos curled wide when in on goal, but Marc-Andre ter Stegen was otherwise relatively untested.
The visitors enjoyed some promising moments early on as Toni Villa lifted a cross to the back post where Viktor Tsygankov was lurking, but the Ukrainian fired wide on the volley.
Barça went back on the offensive and nearly opened the scoring through a near-moment of disaster for Girona. Communication between Santiago Bueno and Paulo Gazzaniga was non-existent and the centre back’s pass trickled towards the line with Gazzaniga anticipating otherwise, eventually scrambling back to hack the ball away from danger.
Xavi’s side got stronger towards the end of the half after some decent pressure from the visitors and went close twice. Raphinha forced Gazzaniga to kick a shot away from danger before the former Spurs goalie just kept out Araujo’s flick from the resulting corner.
Lively Brazil forward Raphinha then teed up Ansu Fati, who fired over the bar.
Castellanos earned daggers from his teammates for scuppering a wonderful opportunity before the hour mark. The loanee striker broke clear from Ivan Martin’s pass and had a teammate in support but shot himself, placing well wide of Ter Stegen’s goal.
The absence of midfield stars Frenkie de Jong and Pedri has hamstrung Barca in recent weeks and the streetwise duo of Martin and Oriol Romeu kept Girona in the game with some tenacious tackling and high work rate in midfield.
The hosts struggled to get Laliga top scorer Lewandowski overly involved, the striker shooting waywardly with his three shots in the first 75 minutes.
No winning goal came late on as the crowd at Camp Nou dispersed in glum fashion, with Gavi bringing a save from Gazzaniga and Lewandowski seeing a back-heel deflected away from danger in the dying moments.
The draw and Real Madrid’s defeat to Villarreal on Saturday means Barça’s lead at the top of La Liga has stretched to 13 points. Girona, meanwhile, remain 11th.
Barcelona player ratings (4-3-3)
GK: Marc-Andre ter Stegen – 6/10 – Another clean sheet for Ter Stegen, who is looking good to claim his first ever Zamora Trophy.
RB: Jules Kounde – 6/10 – Did a bit of everything from right back but also gave the ball away cheaply throughout.
CB: Ronald Araujo – 7/10 – Denied a headed goal by a good Gazzaniga save.
CB: Eric Garcia – 7/10 – Came in with Barça struggling for options at centre back. Took a blow from Stuani to the face but was strong in the air and composed throughout.
LB: Alejandro Balde – 7/10 – Showed good drive and attacking intent to bomb up and down the left.
CM: Sergi Roberto – 4/10 – Offered little more than decent defensive cover in midfield. A bit of a waste of a midfield player for Barça.
CM: Sergio Busquets – 8/10 – Made sure some threatening Girona passes didn’t get through midfield.
CM: Gavi – 7/10 – Fired some dangerous crosses into Girona’s box and buzzed around frantically in defence.
RW: Raphinha – 6/10 – Turned sharply in wide areas and delivery from wide areas was good.
ST: Robert Lewandowski – 5/10 – A little on the periphery of proceedings. A few crosses just evaded his reach.
LW: Ansu Fati – 5/10 – Couple of shots but neither were on target.
Substitutes
Franck Kessie (46′ for Roberto) – 6/10
Ferran Torres (68′ for Fati) – 5/10
Jordi Alba (75′ for Raphinha) – 6/10
Manager
Xavi – 6/10 – Without a couple of his main ball-playing stars in midfield, but Barcelona still might have won on another day. Having points on the board also makes the draw more palletable.
Girona player ratings (4-1-4-1)
GK: Paulo Gazzaniga (7); RB: Arnau Martinez (7), CB: Santiago Bueno (7), CB: David Lopez (8), LB: Javier Hernandez (7); DM: Oriol Romeu (7); RM: Viktor Tsygankov (6), CM: Ivan Martin (7), CM: Borja Garcia (6), LM: Toni Villa (6); ST: Valentin Castellanos (6).
Substitutes: Aleix Garcia (6), Yan Couto (7), Cristhian Stuani (6), Rodrigo Riquelme (6), Valery Fernandez (6).
Player of the match – Sergio Busquets (Barcelona)
Source: 90mins
