In Gerard Pique’s final home game before retirement, Barcelona secured a relatively routine 2-0 win against Almeria at Camp Nou.
Barcelona eased to a 2-0 win against Almeria in Gerard Pique’s final game at Camp Nou before retirement.
Goals from Ousmane Dembele and Frenkie de Jong made up for Robert Lewandowski’s early missed penalty, but it was always a chance for Pique.
The 35-year-old centre-back played 82 minutes before being substituted, leaving the pitch on Saturday to a standing ovation from every one of the 92,605 in attendance as he tearfully hugged each of his teammates.
Barca won their 11th in their last 12 league games to send them back to the top of LaLiga ahead of Real Madrid’s trip to Rayo Vallecano on Sunday.
A VAR review saw Barca awarded a penalty in the sixth minute when Ferran Torres’ header hit the arm of Kaiky Fernandes, but Lewandowski saw his spot-kick go wide of the left-hand post after a stuttering run.
Despite Barca’s dominance, Largie Ramazani pounced on a sloppy pass from De Jong and Marc-Andre ter Stegen was quick to react to clear his shot.
It took the visitors less than three minutes into the second half to find the opener as a long ball down the right from Sergio Busquets found Dembele, who cut inside onto his left foot and beat two defenders before calmly curling a shot into the far post. corner of the network.
Their lead was doubled just after the hour when Jordi Alba’s cross from the left found Ansa Fati, whose shot was well caught by Fernando Martinez before De Jong struck to seal the win as the Camp Nou bid farewell to Pique. victory.
