AFP – Barcelona ground out an unconvincing 3-2 home win against basement club Almeria yesterday thanks to a late Sergi Roberto goal, moving them up to third in La Liga.
Xavi Hernandez’s side ended 2023 with a win thanks to Sergi Roberto’s double and a first-half goal from Raphinha.
Twice the 20th-placed visitors pegged back the Catalan giants courtesy of goals from Leo Baptistao and Edgar Gonzalez but it was eventually the home team who held out to claim the spoils.
The opening 45 minutes threw up several good chances for both sides as Barcelona set about methodically trying to break down the visitors.
It was nearly an early set-piece that did the trick for the Catalans when captain Sergi Roberto was left all alone in the centre of the box but keeper Luis Maximiano did exceptionally well to keep out his headed effort.
Raphinha opened the scoring on 33 minutes when weak Almeria defending, again from a corner, allowed Araujo to get a header goalwards, Maximiano made another fine stop but was unable to do anything about Raphinha’s lashed rebound.
Barca had a golden chance to win the game with just over 10 minutes remaining, but first Lewandowski then Ilkay Gundogan were unable to make sufficient contact with their headers when the goal was gaping before them.
But it was Sergi Roberto, in just his fifth appearance of the season, that provided the winning goal for the Spanish champions when he burst onto Lewandowski’s lofted pass in the 83rd minute and slotted past Maximiano.
