João Felix scored an extraordinary goal to lead Barcelona to a 1-0 victory at Cádiz on Saturday evening.
Just days after recovering a huge 3-2 away win at Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, Xavi Hernández made seven changes to their starting XI since the match at Parc des Princes.
A heavily rotated Barcelona struggled to produce quality chances in the first half, but Felix transformed his team’s first shot on target into a goal to open the scoring.
The Portuguese striker received the ball after a corner and managed to beat Jeremy Ledesma with a magnificent bicycle kick in the 37th minute. Barcelona missed a huge opportunity to double their lead before the break, with the Cadiz center back Victor Chust clear the ball off the line following a Fermin weak strike.
Barcelona gets all three points
Cádiz reacted after half-time and pushed Barcelona back into their area at the start of the second half. Juanmi beats Marc-André Ter Stegen before the hour mark, but his goal was disallowed for offside.
However, Barcelona looked dangerous on the counter, as Ferran Torres the shot was blocked by a Cadiz defender before Félix’s one-time strike narrowly missed.
The visitors made a triple substitution in the 62nd minute. Pedri, Lamine Yamal and Jules Koundé came off the bench Xavi’s offer to bring a boost of energy to the team and allow them to regain control of the game and dictate the tempo.
Barcelona pushed for a second, but Yamal I could not find the target from a narrow angle and Felix’s low strike crashed into the post. 12 minutes from the end, Ter Stegen made a huge one-handed save to deny Diadie Samassékou in what was Cádiz’s best chance of the second half.
With this victory, the Blaugrana remain second in the EA Sports LaLiga standings, eight points behind leader Real Madrid. As for the Andalusian team, Cádiz is third, three points from safety.