Barcelona suffered another damaging defeat to Leganes on Sunday evening, failing to break Pepinero's defense after an early goal from the away side. Leganes captain Sergio Gonzalez has explained the keys to their victory.
The Blaugrana have struggled to break down the opposition in La Liga of late, and Leganes were the latest to thwart them. Gonzalez said they were keen to keep Barcelona wide.
“We followed the second runs and closed a lot especially on the inside, so that they could play from the outside. We felt very comfortable there with the wide crosses and I think that was the key that they didn't do that. Get through it from within,” he told Cadena SER.
One of the hallmarks of Barcelona's recent struggles has been the absence of Robert Lewandowski in the final half hour. Once again, Hansi Flick withdrew the Polish forward early on Sunday evening, and Gonzalez noted that this made life more comfortable for the Leganes backline.
“We in the low block felt more comfortable because we didn't have to deal with the threat of that style as much. They have other players who are very skilled and we had to be very concentrated for each type of action,” Gonzalez explained.
One of the question marks for Barcelona of late, outside of their squad depth, has been the full-back positions, with sporting director Deco seemingly looking to strengthen the position next summer. However, Leganes left the wide areas to Alejandro Balde and Jules Kounde on Sunday and neither made sufficient use of them, although the Frenchman did have Barcelona's best chance of the second half.
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