Barcelona Suffer First La Liga Defeat Of The Season At Leganes

By Nigel Phillips

Barcelona suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat at Leganes courtesy two quick second-half goals at the Estadio Municipal de Butarque on Wednesday.

Leganes entered the game with only a point from five games as against Barcelona who occupied the second spot on the La Liga table with 13 points after four wins and a draw, and behind Real Madrid who play at Sevilla later on in the evening.

Barcelona burst into their trademark inter-positional exchange of passes immediately after referee Alberto Undiano Mallenco’s blast of the whistle, and Philippe Coutinho shot the champions ahead in the 12th minute when he collected a brilliant pass from Lionel Messi and produced a precise half-volley, after a perfect control, to beat the goalkeeper Pichu Cueller.

Lionel Messi tried his luck for a superb goal in the 17th minute with a shot from the edge of the box, but saw his efforts crashed against the crossbar, minutes before Oscar closed the first half with a huge miss for Leganes as he unleashed a powerful shot from the edge of the box after a brilliant solo effort.

The ball went towards the top right corner, but Marc-Andre ter Stegen made a crucial save as the fans already began to celebrate.

Leganes scored two quickfire goals immediately after the restart, starting with Nabil El Zhan in the 52nd minute.

Jonathan Silva sent a long raking pass onto the head of Nabil El Zhan, who made no mistake from close range and sent the ball into the left side of the box.

Oscar made it 2-1 after just sixty seconds when Gerard Pique strayed a shot into the midfielder's path in his haste to clear a cross from his area. Oscar rolled the ball into the back of the net to complete a catastrophic night for the champions.

Samuel Umtiti received the yellow card for a foul in the 60th minute and Philippe Coutinho blew a clear opportunity to score a goal in the 80th minute when he came one-on-one with Ivan Cuellar in the six-yard box and attempted to put the ball into the right side of the target, but was denied by a great save.

Ivan Rakitic produced a good strike that sailed towards the right post which the goalkeeper saved on a reflex, Allan Nyom received a yellow card for a bad foul in the 87th minute, Undiano Mallenco booked Youssef En Nesyri for a tough tackle in the 90th minute, three minutes before Jordi Albar condemned Barcelona to their first loss of the season by blowing wide second before the referee ended proceedings.