616 games and 34 trophies: Barca fans had nothing but love as they said goodbye to one of the greatest-ever defenders in their club’s history on Saturday night.
Barcelona hosted Almeria at the Spotify Camp Nou in La Liga on Saturday, November 5, 2022.
The Blaugrana were hoping to build on their hard-fought victory against Valencia last weekend when they faced Rubi’s Almeria side who were 12th on the summit going into this fixture.
The Blaugrana were also celebrating their Spanish defender Gerard Pique who had already announced he would retire after Saturday night’s fixture in what would be his final match as a professional footballer.
The 35-year-old started as captain on the night and was constantly cheered at the 99,354-capacity stadium.
The hosts dominated proceedings in the opening stages and were handed a glorious opportunity to score in the 6th minute after the referee Pablo Gonzalez Fuertes stopped play to check VAR for a possible handball.
Fuertes completed his check and awarded a penalty to the hosts.
However, Robert Lewandowski stepped up a missed his spot kick two minutes later, placing his effort just inches wide of the left post.
Six minutes later, Ousmane Dembele’s corner was met by a header from Gerard Pique, but he somehow managed to miss from close range, heading the ball over the bar.
Barcelona continued to control possession after the opening 20 minutes but failed to create any real clear-cut goalscoring chance since the early penalty miss.
Almeria started to grow into the game and found themselves a chance to open the scoring in the 29th minute, but Ramazani was denied by Ter Stegen after finding himself one on one against the Barca shot-stopper.
The hosts continued to create chances in search of an opener in the first period but couldn’t find a way past Almeria goalkeeper Fernando Martinez as both sides headed into the break with scores with neither side yet to find the breakthrough.
Second Half
However, it was a different story in the second period as the hosts finally broke the deadlock three minutes after the restart with Dembele dribbling his way inside the box and finishing in the bottom corner to put Barca 1-0 up.
Barca continued to pile the pressure as Dembele again found himself a chance to double his side’s advantage in the 58th minute, after Jordi Alba played him through, only for the Frenchman to somehow miss the target after rounding the keeper.
However, the hosts finally added a second after Frenkie de Jong finished off a rebound after a brilliant team effort in the 62nd minute.
Ansu Fati thought he had extended his side’s lead in the 70th minute, but his effort was correctly ruled out for offside.
Barca continued to dominate until the 84th minute when play was paused for a Barca substitution with Gerard Piqué coming off for Andreas Christensen in his final appearance for the club with the Spanish center-back walking off to a standing ovation from the Spotify Camp Nou with chants of his name echoing all around the stadium.
In the end, it finished 2-0 at Camp Nou in favour of Barcelona who now lead second-placed Real Madrid with two points on the summit pending the outcome of the Los Blancos’ match against Rayo Vallecano on Sunday.
Social Media Reactions: Gerard Piqué farewell
Following the result for Barcelona on Saturday night, fans took to social media to appreciate another of their club legends – Gerard Pique who was playing his final game for the Blaugrana.
Here’s how fans have reacted below:
Pulse
