Barca 1-2 Granada: Catalans spurn chance to go top of La Liga
Messi opened the scoring but Barca were stung twice in the second half
Not like this. There were pitfalls on the road ahead but Barcelona didn’t anticipate losing at home against Granada for the first time ever.
The Catalans could have gone top on Thursday night but now they are third, two points off leaders Atletico and behind Madrid on head-to-head.
It’s no longer in their hands. Even if they beat Atletico, Real Madrid can win the title by winning their last five games. Oh, and Sevilla are on 70 points, just one behind.
It started well, too, with Antoine Griezmann dancing in the box and finding Messi, who slotted home well.
But Barcelona did not add to their lead. Granada had two chances and scored two goals, in the second half.
The first opportunity fell to Darwin Machis after Oscar Mingueza’s error, and he drilled home well.
Then Jorge Molina nodded home brilliantly but it was sloppy defending from Sergi Roberto, Gerard Pique and Samuel Umtiti that led to the situation.
“There are five games to go still, we will try and win them and learn from our errors,” said Jordi Alba.
“They had two chances basically and they scored them. There are some games we have to seal earlier. It’s a tough blow.
“(We’ll react) by winning the last five games. We’re having a good year. Today we lacked the second goal. We are furious but have to pick ourselves up and win the rest of our games.”
