Barcelona lost to Cadiz after being knocked out of the Europa League, with some fans missing from the stands

Barcelona and Cadiz played in the 32nd round of La Ligaon Monday . The Catalans were looking to recover from Thursday’s Europa League exit and the Frankfurt fan scandal. At the Camp Nou, they faced a home team that is fighting for salvation and needs to pick up points in every game.

Perhaps more talked about after Thursday than the European Cup elimination is the fact that over thirty thousand Eintracht Frankfurt fans were allowed into the Barcelona football sanctuary, even though they were officially allocated five thousand tickets. Because of this affair, a group of the Blaugranas’ most loyal supporters decided to boycott the match with Cadiz, and so part of the stand behind one of the goals was empty.

Coach Xavi Hernández reacted to the Europa League quarter-final defeat with four changes to the line-up, including the substitution of Depay for Aubameyang. In the first half, although the home side traditionally played most of the time with the ball on the hoof, not one of their seven shots ended in a goal. Neither Torres nor Dembélé had any chances of their own, while the visiting Lucas Pérez also had a great chance to score. The match was therefore scoreless.

Moments after the change of sides, Barcelona got a shock in the form of a goal. Although goalkeeper ter Stegen managed to defuse two attempts by Sobrin, he was short on the follow-up by Pérez. In the 62nd minute, the home team made their first substitution, with Aubameyang replacing Depay. Ousmane Dembélé was very active in this match, but he did not score.

Cádiz was able to create more chances, for example Álex Fernández shot from an interesting position next to the right post. After a minute on the pitch, Luuk de Jong headed home a corner kick, but goalkeeper Ledesma made another of his several important saves. Although Barcelona stepped up the pressure as the final whistle approached, their 18 total shots were ultimately not enough to score.

Thus, Barça confirmed that they are not very good against Cadiz, having only played a goalless draw against them in the autumn, losing 0:1 and ending a 15-match unbeaten streak in the Spanish league. The visitors, on the other hand, moved up to 16th place in the table with a surprising three points. They next play Athletic Bilbao. Barcelona, who have to concentrate on defending their Champions League position rather than fighting for the title, will take on Real Sociedad in the next round.

Source: La Liga, Livesport