Granada 1 vs 2 Barcelona
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64′Goal Francisco Alcácer García
GOOOOOOOOOAL! ALCACER MAKES IT 2-1! The former Valencia man has struck at an important time! The Spaniard is fed into the penalty area by a good ball that was lifted over the top, before stroking home a cool finish. Barcelona lead once again! -
62′The away side are starting to lose their cool slightly, with Granada starting to get a few refereeing decisions turning in their favour. Neymar finds Busquets in space on the edge of the area, who tries to lift a ball over the top to find Sergi Roberto overlapping, but the Spain international’s pass is far too heavy.
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60′Yellow Card Jordi Alba Ramos
Barcelona have less than half an hour to snatch a winning goal, with the Blaugrana regaining their composure after conceding that breakaway Boga strike. Jordi Alba gets a yellow card for tugging at the goalscorer’s shirt as he attempts to escape down the right.
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59′Yellow Card David Rodríguez Lombán
Yellow card David Rodríguez Lombán -
59′Alba and Neymar’s combination play down the left-hand side appears to be the way to carve Granada apart. Neymar jinks in from the left and shoots from 15 yards, but his effort is blocked. Moments later, Ochoa punches a cross dangerously into traffic, but Granada survive the scare.
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57′Sergi Roberto battles his way to the right byline and tries to cut back a cross, but it is easily blocked. Luis Enrique’s men are retaining possession well, with the game settling back down again. Alba sets a pass infield which invites Neymar to shoot inside the hosts’ box, but the Brazil international’s attempt is charged down by several approaching defenders.
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55′SubstitutionArtem KravetsGustavo Adrián Ramos Vásquez
Barcelona enjoy a spell of possession to try and take the momentum out of the game, with Granada itching to try and turn the ball over and attack themselves. Kravets is withdrawn for the hosts, with Adrian Ramos given the chance to make himself a hero once again.
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54′Pereira tries his luck with a speculative effort from 30 yards out, but the young midfielder’s attempt is rather tame and Ter Stegen collects it easily. Neymar sends a curling effort goalwards from out wide on the left, but Ochoa makes a very simple catch.
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52′Alcacer is the target of an ambitious diagonal pass from the left-hand side, but the Spaniard can’t quite get on the end of it inside the box. Granada have taken real belief from that goal, with the hosts pushing players forward and harrying with intent. The home fans are expectant, now.
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50′Goal Jeremie Boga
GOOOOOOOOOAL! BOGA MAKES IT 1-1! GRANADA ARE LEVEL! The Chelsea loanee is fed in behind the Barcelona back four and steams into the penalty area, before picking his spot and tucking a neat finish into the bottom-left corner. -
50′Assist Matthieu Saunier
Assist Matthieu Saunier
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48′Alcacer drives infield from the right-hand side and unleashes a powerful effort, but Ochoa is equal to it. The Mexico international is helped out by his defenders, as his initial parry doesn’t deal with the danger well at all. Really clean strike from the former Valencia striker.
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46′SubstitutionVictorien AngbanJeremie Boga
Boga comes on for Angban at the break, with Alcaraz reshuffling his midfield options somewhat. -
46′We are back underway in the second half at Estadio Nuevo Los Carmenes! Barcelona will want more goals to kill off this contest, but Granada definitely need to offer a lot more going forward.
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HALF-TIME! Barcelona go into the interval with a narrow 1-0 lead over Granada. Suarez’s lovely chip just before the break is the difference, with constant pressure from the away side finally paying off. The hosts have defended well, but now they might need to go back to the drawing board.
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45′There is one minute of stoppage time in the first half.
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44′Goal Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz
GOOOOOOOOOAL! SUAREZ MAKES IT 1-0! The Barcelona striker races into the clear and clips a beautiful finish over the top of the advancing Ochoa. That execution was perfect, with Granada’s resistance falling just before the break. A sucker punch. -
44′Assist Jordi Alba Ramos
Assist Jordi Alba Ramos
42′
Neymar and Suarez link up, with a rabona pass over the top gathered up by Ochoa. Barcelona continue to try and force the issue and change the tempo of their attacks, but Granada’s bullish tenacity is serving them well so far. Neymar is fed in behind Saunier, but Ochoa smothers the ball ahead of the Brazilian.
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40′Ochoa races off his line to make an easy catch, after a clipped ball over the top towards Neymar. Suarez is infuriated yet again, as the Uruguay international is caught late by another risky tackle. Granada’s approach could well come into question at this rate! Rakitic shoots from outside the box, but curls the shot way over the crossbar.
38′
Wakaso gives a free-kick away for a rough tackle on Rakitic, with the Granada midfielder needing to be careful not to pick up a yellow card. Neymar whips a delivery into the box from deep on the right-hand side, but a delicious ball narrowly escapes Mathieu!
36′
Mathieu is the target of a free-kick delivery from the left flank, but the Frenchman miscontrols terribly and the chance evaporates as quickly as it arrived. Moments later, Alba is fed to the left byline and cuts a cross back, but it comes to nothing, before a second delivery from the same wing evades Suarez cruelly.
34′
Suarez is fed into the penalty area, and manages to wriggle into space. He stabs a low finish towards the bottom-right corner, but Ochoa makes a good save with his legs. The Barcelona striker is claiming that he was tugged down in the process – but the referee isn’t interested.
32′
Neymar is picked out on the left-hand side and he dances infield, before gifting possession away. Granada are keeping it tight and congested in the centre of the field, ensuring that Barcelona have to be looking constantly wide and in behind for inspiration. Alcaraz’s game plan is working thus far.
30′
Luis Suarez is picked out by a scooped pass over the top, before forcing Ochoa to make a save low down to his left – but yet again the Uruguayan is caught offside. The hosts are holding their line well and forcing Barcelona to take risks in their build-up play.
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28′Yellow Card Sergi Roberto Carnicer
Gaston Silva gives the ball away on the edge of the penalty area, but manages to win it back. The Uruguay international then coaxes a rash tackle out of Sergi Roberto, who gets a booking for his trouble. -
27′Neymar tries to bend a cross in from the left-hand side, but Ochoa makes a good claim ahead of Suarez. Moments later, Suarez forces a close-range save out of the Mexican goalkeeper, before Alcacer follows up. The substitute gave the Uruguayan striker another bite at the cherry, but he can’t turn it on target.
25′
Suarez and Neymar combine, with the former chipping a clipped effort onto the underside of the crossbar. His Brazilian teammate is first to react and tucks home a finish from the rebound, but he was caught way offside. Nearly a breakthrough for Barcelona, and they’re getting closer.
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23′Foulquier drives powerfully down the right-hand side, but is then penalised for leaning on the shoulder of Jordi Alba. Granada are trying to get forward in numbers and very vertically, but it isn’t quite coming off so far. Ter Stegen has been mainly a spectator so far.
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21′Jordi Alba cuts in from the left before driving with pace to the byline and earning his side a corner. Neymar bends it in, but Ochoa parries half-clear. Granada can’t seem to escape from their own final third. Andre Gomes catches Litri late, and that looks like a sore one.
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19′Neymar has a half chance at the back post, after a diagonal pass from the right-hand side, but the Brazil international can’t direct a volleyed effort on target. The Blaugrana are dominating the ball and forcing Granada to sit very deep. Barcelona will have to be quite creative to break this resilient unit down.
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17′SubstitutionRafael Alcântara do NascimentoFrancisco Alcácer García
Alcacer is introduced with the chance to make himself a bit of a hero, as Rafinha leaves after picking up an injury. That looked innocuous, but Luis Enrique isn’t taking any chances. -
17′Rafinha is the latest man to go down with a bit of an injury complaint, with Alcacer being prepared. It would be likely that Suarez drops out to the flank, rather than the ex-Valencia striker being forced out wide.
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15′Suarez gets a bit of rough treatment, with Neymar also needing a bit of treatment after an awkward tumble. The opening quarter of an hour has been all Barcelona, but Ochoa hasn’t done too much aside from smothering a couple of through balls. The hosts’ back five is very deep indeed.
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13′Foulquier dives into a late tackle on Neymar, with the Brazilian already starting to cause plenty of problems from out wide on the left-hand side. Kravets drives down the left and tries to get inside Mascherano, before blasting an awful attempt high and wide of the target.
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11′Pereira is picked out by a cross from the left-hand side, but an acrobatic attempt on the volley from the young midfielder is blocked. Barcelona are enjoying all of the possession and putting all of the pressure on. Granada’s bright first few minutes seem a long time ago now.
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9′Neymar and Suarez play a neat one-two, but Foulquier does well to track the run of the Brazilian winger and concede a corner. The set-piece is swung in towards Rafinha at the back post, but the ex-Celta midfielder can’t direct the ball goalwards.
7′
Barcelona calm things down and start to play at their own pace, with the likes of Rafinha, Suarez and Neymar finding pockets of space in between the lines already. The latter stabs a low pass into the penalty area for Suarez to chase, but Ochoa is quick off his line to smother ahead of the ex-Groningen striker.
5′
Rafinha tries to burst into the penalty area for the visitors, but Saunier steps out well to make a good interception. Alcaraz is very animated on the touchline, with the hosts rushing forward to try and press high. The problem is, their midfield aren’t following their forward players too closely, so Barcelona can break the press quite easily.
3′
Granada try to be positive and forward thinking from the very start, with Alcaraz’s introduction having at least instilled a bit of personality and character into this side. Barcelona quickly look to retain possession and calm things down, however, as Luis Enrique’s men will want to play this game at their own pace. Suarez has the first chance, but is denied by the offside flag.
1′
We are underway in the first half in Andalucia! Granada are desperate for another home win, as they can’t afford to keep dropping points at home at the business end of the season.
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Barcelona substitutes: Denis, Iniesta, Cillessen, Alcacer, Digne, Umtiti, Alena.
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Barcelona starting line-up (4-3-3): Ter Stegen; Sergi Roberto, Mascherano, Mathieu, Jordi Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Andre Gomes; Rafinha, Suarez, Neymar.
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Granada substitutes: Rui Silva, Sergi Samper, Ramos, Boga, Cuenca, Ingason, Estupinan.
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Granada starting line-up (5-4-1): Ochoa; Foulquier, Saunier, Lomban, Silva, Litri; Pereira, Uche, Angban, Wakaso; Kravets.
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TEAM NEWS: Javier Mascherano and Jeremy Mathieu rotate in at centre-back for Barcelona, with Jordi Alba featuring at left-back in a back four. Ivan Rakitic and Andre Gomes flank Sergio Busquets in central midfield, but Lionel Messi is suspended. Rafinha will be deployed out on the right-hand side in his absence. Carles Alena gets a seat on the bench, with Luis Enrique taking the chance to try and rotate to keep his squad fresh.
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TEAM NEWS: Mubarak Wakaso returns from suspension to start for Granada, with Victorien Angban and Uche Agbo anchoring the midfield. Andreas Pereira will be key out wide, with Litri set to get a tough test at left wing-back in the injury absence of Hector. Adrian Ramos has been struggling with injury problems of late, which means that Artem Kravets starts up top.
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As it stands, Granada are eight points from safety, but a win tonight would definitely boost their confidence and morale. Barcelona, meanwhile, find themselves five points off the title race. The hosts have won three of their last four on home soil, and even took Atletico Madrid all the way in a narrow 1-0 loss against Diego Simeone’s men.
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Hello and welcome to live coverage of Granada vs Barcelona, where both teams are in desperate need of the three points. While the hosts need to pick up a win to help their attempts to survive the drop, Luis Enrique’s men need to keep pace with Real Madrid at the top of LaLiga. At Estadio Nuevo Los Carmenes, Lucas Alcaraz’s team have been doing well, with tonight being a potential banana skin for the favourites.
Suarez receives the ball to feet, flicks it up and then hooks a great pass over the top for Alcacer to latch onto.