Granada defeat Barcelona by a solitary goal

 

Madrid: Barcelona’s La Liga title hopes suffered a huge blow as they lost 1-0 at Granada on Saturday to slip to a second consecutive defeat. Algerian Yacine Brahimi scored the only goal after 16 minutes as Barca failed to find a way past the inspired Orestis Karnezis in the Granada goal.

 

The defeat rounds off an awful week for Barca as they were also dumped out of the Champions League by Atletico Madrid on Wednesday. 

The Catalans are now third in La Liga, a point behind both Real Madrid and Atletico after Real cruised to a 4-0 win over Almeria at the Santiago Bernabeu thanks to goals from Angel di Maria, Gareth Bale, Isco and Alvaro Morata. Atletico, who now just need to win five of their remaining six games to claim a first La Liga title in 18 years, can open up a gap at the top when they face Getafe on Sunday.

 

“It is a step backwards. It was just one move, for their goal, which we were punished for despite all the effort we put in,” Barca midfielder Andres Iniesta told Canal Plus. “At times it is difficult to explain when you lose. We lacked goals, but the rest we had under control.” Gerardo Martino had made four changes from the side that started Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat to Atletico with a makeshift back four made up of reserve full-backs Adriano and Martin Montoya alongside natural holding midfielders Javier Mascherano and Sergio Busquets. Granada took advantage of that unsettled defence to score as Brahimi sped past Busquets and fired past Jose Manuel Pinto at his near post