Sergi Roberto Scores Brace To Win Barcelona Over Almeria

Barcelona captain Sergi Roberto (right) and team celebrate a goal in the match against Almeria. (X/@FCBarcelona)

JAKARTA - Barcelona achieved a difficult 3-2 victory over bottom team Almeria when closing the Spanish La Liga competition before the Christmas and New Year holidays at the Olimpico Lluis Companys Stadium, Thursday, December 2 early morning WIB. Midfielder Sergi Roberto scored a brace which ended Barca's streak of three games without a win.

Barca's record of not winning in three previous matches in various competitions has been broken. After winning 1-0 against Atletico Madrid, they suffered two defeats in a row and drew once.

Barca lost 4-2 when they hosted Girona. This bad trend continued when Barca faced Royal Antwerp in the final match of the Champions League group stage.

They were forced to give up 3-2 in the last match of the group stage and then drew 1-1 against Valencia in the domestic competition.

This unsatisfactory achievement made coach Xavi Hernandez start to be hit by the issue of changing the team captain. The name of Rafael Marquez, who is currently managing the Barcelona Atleti youth team, has even emerged and is said to be replacing Xavi.

However, in the midst of the succession issue, Xavi again proved his performance. In the home match, Barca returned to winning ways after beating bottom of the standings Almeria.

The results of the match made Barca move up one strip to be in third place. Barca has 38 points or is three points ahead while overtaking Atletico.

Apart from that, Barca is still six points behind Girona who is at the top of the standings. Meanwhile, Real Madrid, who is in second place, has 42 points.

Almeria itself is increasingly sinking at the bottom of the standings with five points. They never win a match and get points from draws. If they don't get points, Almria will almost certainly be relegated next season.

Barca's match against Almeria was the last for both teams because they were entering the year-end holiday. They will return to competition in early January 2024 or after the new year.

Appearing at home, Barca completely dominated. However, they missed more opportunities and had to work hard to win the match.

In the first half, Barca had at least 15 chances and five kicks on goal but only one could be converted into a goal. Forward Raphinha finally put Barca ahead in the 33rd minute.

The goal started when Almeria goalkeeper Luis Maximiano saved defender Ronald Araujo's header who met the ball from a corner kick.

Only Maximiano failed to catch the ball so it rebounded. Raphinha struck the wild ball with a close-range shot that hit the opponent's goal.

Unfortunately, Barca could not maintain their lead. Striker Leo Baptistao managed to equalize the score at 1-1 towards the end of the first half. The goal was actually disallowed because it was considered offside.

However, after being reviewed by VAR, the goal was declared clean and there was no offside. The referee overturned the decision and confirmed the goal.

In the second half, Barca continued to dominate. This time the Blaugrana attacks were more effective. Evidently, Barca took the lead again through captain Sergi Roberto who scored a goal in the 60th minute.

Once again, Almeria, who refused to give up, managed to equalize the score. This time it was defender Edgar Gonzalez who found the back of Inaki Pena's goal in the 71st minute. The score was again level at 2-2.

Luckily, Sergi Roberto showed his ability to put Barca back in front in the 83rd minute.

Receiving a pass from striker Robert Lewandowski, he managed to pass, aka nutmeg, goalkeeper Maximiano before scoring into the net. The score changed to 3-2 for Barca and lasted until the end of the match.