Girona pulled a La Liga shocker against Barcelona away from home to tighten their grip on La Liga title race, MySportDab reports.
It was a rain of goals at the Estadio Olimpico – Barcelona’s makeshift stadium amid the ongoing reconstruction at Camp Nou.
The two sides squared up in a heated La Liga clash that saw six goals hurled in to separate the tie.
With Real Madrid top of the La Liga table after away draw to Real Betis, Girona needed the win to overtake the domestic and European giants.
Barcelona also needed victory to stay put on the lanes to challenge for their second consecutive title.
While Girona have maintained a series of remarkable performances in their bid to stay put in the race for the title, they have suffered crashing defeat to Real Madrid, and were expected to collapse likewise like a pack of cards with Barcelona’s attacking arsenal.
At the Estadio Olimpico, it turned out a different ball game as the Michel-led title hopefuls held Barcelona to a tight and boiling duel.
Barcelona wielded a slight dominance over the visitors with possession but struggled to sustain the dominance.
Surprisingly, Girona went toe-to-toe with the Catalans, closing up marking spaces and maintaining a high-brow attacking style of play.
With 47% of the ball possession, the Whites and Reds fired 15 shots, with 7 on target, of which 4 resulted in a goal.
Barcelona also maintained a good and superior superior attacking threats with 31 shots fired, with 11 on target.
Girona were the first to take the lead just 12 minutes into the game with Duvbyk opening the scoresheet for the away side.
Seven minutes after Girona’s lead, Barcelona were able to fight back into the game as Robert Lewandowski broke his goal drought to even the scores.
Just before the first-half break, Girona fought back into the lead again in the 40th minute thanks to Gutierrez’s fire goal.
The visitors were on the lead at the interval, with Barcelona taken to task to overturn the goal deficit in the second half.
It was a 35 minutes goal drought in the second half. Both sides struggled to find the back of the net all to no avail.
Against the run of play, Girona finally broke the goal deadlock to extend the lead with Valery’s 80th minute strike.
It took Barcelona a stoppage-time strike by IIkay Gundogan to reduce the deficit again and restore comeback hopes.
But Girona seemed destined for an epic La Liga victory. Three minutes after Gundogan’s lifeline goal, Stuani dealt the final blow to Barcelona scoring to the extend the lead again in 95th minute.
It was game-over for Barcelona as Girona sealed a dramatic 2-4 victory to overtake Real Madrid at the top of the La Liga table.
With the win, Girona now have 41 points, 2 points clear of Real Madrid in second place while Barcelona are fourth with 34 points, same points as Atletico Madrid in third place, who have a game in hand.
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