A goal in injury time settled a dramatic victory for FC Barcelona in an intense Catalan derby with Girona this Saturday. After an end-to-end first half had finished 1-1, Hansi Flick’s side had chance after chance to find a winner in the second half, but it wasn’t until the 93rd minute that it finally came.

the game as it happened

With Girona desperately trying to hold on for a draw, a final lunge from Barça ended with Frenkie de Jong threading the ball into the danger zone and Ronald Araujo getting a foot on it to secure a 2-1 victory that, at least for now, puts the team back on top of the league table.

In a game in which Toni Fernández made his league debut at centre-forward, the two sides served up a thoroughly engaging spectacle, and once again it was Barça’s famous persistence and utter refusal to give up until the final whistle that were to thank for three points rather than one. And then win also comes as a massive boost for morale with the Clásico now just a week away.

Perfect Pedri

Barça pummelled Girona’s area from the outset and it didn’t look like the visitors were going to hold for long. They didn’t. Just eleven minutes into the game and Barça were already ahead.

It was all Pedri’s work. Six touches along the edge of the area and he finally decided it was time to shoot. In off the post it went — a simply gorgeous bit of football from the Canary Islander — and Barça were worthy leaders.

Girona revival

Based on the evidence so far, it may have looked like this was going to be a walk in the park. We had seen nothing of Girona to this point, but we soon would. Axel Witsel isn’t known for scoring goals, but his overhead kick on 20 minutes was as spectacular as any we are likely to see at Montjuïc this season.

Not only did the red-and-whites pull back level, but they had more in the tank, and the Barça defence was let off the hook several times in the first half. Vladyslav Vanat, Portu and Bryan Gil were all clean through on Wojciech Szczęsny, but the Polish keeper won the first battle, Portu hit the post and Gil sent his effort high.

What a game this was turning out to be. Barça were also buzzing with life, and Paulo Gazzaniga produced an amazing save to deny De Jong before Marcus Rashford rifled the ball onto the crossbar with such force that the sound echoed around the stadium.

Frustration

With the rain pelting down from above, Barça were well back on top after the restart. One of two fine chances for Fermín López struck the post. His fellow returnee from injury, Lamine Yamal, also came close, and Rashford will feel he could have done better with two excellent chances.

The blaugrana were certainly making up for their first-half shortcomings here, and Pau Cubarsí did find the net only for his effort to be ruled out for a foul in the build-up. But despite all the pressure, the second goal just did not want to come. With a couple of potential penalty decisions also going against Barça’s interests, time was running out and the scoreboard still hadn’t budged since Witsel’s equaliser.

Last gasp winner

Barça’s agony was Girona’s glee, and the visitors began concentrating on spoiling tactics and defending deep, with their eyes as much on the clock as anything else. And it was working, because in the final minutes, rather than intensify, Barça’s breakthroughs started to dry up.

Furious to learn that the officials were only adding four minutes of injury time, Hansi Flick found himself shown a red card.

But he needn’t have worried — four minutes would turn out to be plenty.

Right at the very end, just when it looked like we were heading for a 1-1 draw, up stepped Araujo, and the points were won!

Next Sunday it’s the Clásico against Real Madrid, but before that there’s Champions League action against Olympiacos on Tuesday at 6.45 pm CEST. Watch this space!

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