Barcelona 0-1 Leganes: Early Gonzalez goal stuns LaLiga leaders

Sergio Gonzalez's fourth-minute header stunned LaLiga leaders Barcelona as Leganes secured a shock 1-0 win at Camp Nou on Sunday.

Barcelona have now suffered consecutive home defeats for the third time in all competitions in the 21st century, following April 2003 under Radomir Antic (two) and April 2022 under Xavi (three).

The visitors took an early lead when Oscar Rodriguez's corner found an unmarked Gonzalez at the near post and knocked the ball past Inaki Pena.

Robert Lewandowski came close to restoring parity seven minutes later, but LaLiga's leading marksman was unable to turn Raphinha's cross past Marko Dmitrovic.

Lamine Yamal then shot over in first-half stoppage time, before Jules Kounde fired narrowly wide shortly after the restart.

But the home side's best chance of an equalizer came in the closing stages, when Ferran Torres neatly tapped the ball into Kounde's path, but he dragged his effort past the post.

Barcelona remain top of the table, level on points with Atletico Madrid and one point ahead of Real Madrid, but they have played a game more than their title challengers.

Fulltime#BarçaLeganés pic.twitter.com/ywBiim6nOS

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) December 15, 2024

Data debriefing: all bark, no bite

After Atletico secured a narrow victory on Saturday and Carlo Ancelotti's team also dropped points, Barcelona missed the chance to take a comfortable lead at the top.

Hansi Flick's side finished the match with an expected goals total (xG) of 2.67 from their 20 shots, although only four were on target, while they also managed to restrict Leganes to just six attempts, but the visitors matched their opponents' total in effort. on target.

Adding to their frustration, Barcelona had 80% of the ball against Leganes, the second-highest total by any team in a home defeat in LaLiga since 2005-06.

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