Minnows take a bite out of Barca title bid

Andy West 09:52 13/04/2014
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  • Brah-vo: Yacine Brahimi is mobbed by team mates after scoring the decisive winner.

    Barcelona’s troubled season was plunged to new depths last night with a stunning 1-0 defeat at relegation-threatened Granada.

    Yacine Brahimi struck the only goal early on and, despite a number of chances throughout the game, there was no way back for Tata Martino’s team, who will fall four points behind Atletico Madrid if the leaders win at Getafe today.

    Following hot on the heels of their midweek Champions League exit against Atletico, the Nou Camp club’s season is in danger of falling apart and boss Martino will be under huge pressure in the buildup to Wednesday’s Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid.

    Barca started brightly enough, with Lionel Messi firing an early free-kick into the wall and rightback Martin Montoya heading straight at home keeper Orestis Karnezis after running onto a well-angled cross from Adriano.

    But disaster then struck when Alex Song needlessly lost possession in midfield and Granada launched a rapid counter-attack, with Fran Rico cutting open the visiting defence by sliding through a pass into the stride of Brahimi, who managed to get goalside of Montoya to fire confidently past Jose Manuel Pinto.

    Messi squandered an immediate chance to level by glancing a header wide from Neymar’s left-wing cross, before Barca avoided a further major setback when a penalty appeal was waved away after a risky challenge from Javier Mascherano on Youssef El-Arabi.

    The visiting team then dominated the remainder of the opening period, with the first of several chances to level coming when Neymar headed Montoya’s inviting cross over the top.

    Montoya was soon involved again, reaching the byline to cut back a low pass to Cesc Fabregas, whose strike was well blocked by Tiago Ilori, before the lively Neymar had a curling 25-yard effort acrobatically saved by Karnezis.

    A rare Granada attack resulted in Pinto making an awkward save to keep out Rico’s skidding strike from the edge of the box, but Barca finished the opening period on the front foot as Montoya and Andres Iniesta sent efforts wide.

    The second half got underway in similar fashion with Barca pressing for an equaliser, and the outstanding Karnezis made an excellent save to his right to push aside a shot from Fabregas after the midfielder received a nod down from Neymar.

    Granada were rarely able to get out of their own half, although Barca needed Montoya to make a well-timed intervention to deny Brahimi a clear run on goal after a breakaway.

    Neymar dragged a low shot narrowly wide of the far post before Karnezis enjoyed his finest moment, superbly pushing aside a fizzing free-kick from Messi and then producing a reflex stop to keep out a stabbed close-range effort from Sergio Busquets from the subsequent corner.

    The visitors’ pressure receded for a while, but they pushed hard again in the final 10 minutes and came agonisingly close to levelling when substitute Alexis Sanchez found Neymar and his effort for once beat Karnezis but didn’t have the power to get past retreating defender Ilori.

    Iniesta squeezed a shot narrowly wide and Messi sent another headed chance over the top before Pinto kept his team alive with a double save from El-Arabi. The final opportunity fell to Pedro inside stoppage time, but his low strike was well saved by Karnezis and the hosts celebrated a famous victory.

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