Barcelona beat Cadiz to continue LaLiga title charge

Barcelona took charge of the LaLiga title race as they brushed aside Cadiz by 2-0 at the Camp Nou on Sunday evening. After Real Madrid won away at Osasuna on Saturday and closed the gap to five points at the summit of the LaLiga standings, Xavi’s side swiftly restored their eight-point advantage with yet another home win.

The visitors had the ball in the back of the net after just 20 minutes when Roger Marti struck past Marc-Andre ter Stegen but the goal was ruled out due to offside. The hosts hardly created any clear-cut openings in the first 40 minutes as Cadiz did a fine job to restrict their hosts from playing their natural game.

Robert Lewandowski had a great chance to open the scoring in the 40^th minute from an inviting ball from Ferran Torres on the right wing but the Polish striker failed to keep his header on target at the far post.

In the 43^rd minute, it was Torres who once again who came up with delightful trickery from the edge of the box to set up Lewandowski’s diving header was cleared off the ball. However, Sergi Roberto was on hand to strike the rebound home to give his side the lead.

Two minutes later, it was 2-0 as Lewandowski scored deep into first-half stoppage time to double the advantage for Barcelona. The 34-year-old scored from just inside the box with a splendid striker to break his mini 3-game goal drought.  

The goal brought a huge sigh of relief for the home fans as Barcelona went into the break with the advantage. Lewandowski was close to make it 3-0 ten minutes after the break but he failed to keep his looping effort on target following Gavi’s header.

Cadiz came close to score in the dying minutes of the game as Chris Ramos was denied twice by ter Stegen while substitute Anthony Lozano struck the post with a header.

As Barcelona managed to hold on and keep a clean sheet, the Catalans now sit with 59 points from 22 games having won all of their last five league games. Cadiz meanwhile are 17^th, 2 points clear of the relegation zone.

Photo credit: Imago/Pressinphoto