FC Barcelona B v UE Llagostera: Unrewarded effort (0-1)

[[DES_1]]Barça B have lost 1-0 to Llagostera in the second all-Catalan game of the season. Patric put the ball in the back of the net, and no matter how hard they tried, Barça couldn’t make amends at the other end.

Own goal

Llagostera are from the smallest town ever to have a team in one of the top two divisions of Spanish football following their miraculous rise from the lower tiers to Division 2B in just ten years. Today they were welcomed to the Miniestadi for the first time, and were clearly not intimidated as they took the game to Barça B from the start, and found themselves leading after 20 minutes when Patric mishit a clearance and ended up scoring in his own goal.[[DES_2]]

Barça B needed to react quickly, and they did. Dongou sent a header skimming wide, and shortly after Grimaldo came close from long range, as did Joan Román on the rebound. The centre forward also found time to hit the crossbar before half-time came around, with Barça B still trailing by the solitary goal.

No way back

The home side came out strong following the break, but it was the visitors who got the first chances of the second 45 minutes. Ortolá saved from Óscar Rico, and two minutes later Juanjo shot just wide. But from then on it was one-way traffic as Barça piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser. Dongou tried once from long range and once from an angle, and substitute Halilovic sent the ball over the bar with one of his first interventions.

Halilovic led the way in the final onslaught on the Llagostera goal, in which chances of every nature were created but none of them went in. The Croat probably had the best chance, but visiting keeper René pulled off a fabulous save. And when Diagne narrowly failed to get on the end of a Patric cross, the Miniestadi knew that this game was lost.

So it was that the three-game winning streak came to an end, and Barça B are left with nine points and in the top half of the table as they prepare for next week’s trip to the Iberostar Estadi in Mallorca.