FC Barcelona restored their eight-point lead at the top of the LaLiga standings after defeating relegation-threatened Cadiz 2-0 on Sunday evening.
LaLiga
Result: FC Barcelona 2-0 Cadiz
Date: 19 February 2023
Venue: Camp Nou
With a second-leg against Manchester United in the UEFA Europa League coming up during the week, Barca manager Xavi rotated the side, with the likes of Sergi Roberto, Ansu Fati and Ferran Torres brought back into the side.
Blaugrana enjoyed a healthy spell of possession in the early exchanges, with Cadiz happy to sit back and absorb the pressure and the hosts carved out their first real chance on 20 minutes after Torres cut inside the box but his left-footed curler missed just wide of the far post.
Barca's persistence eventually paid off just before the interval after Roberto scored from a rebound in the box after Lewandowski's goal-bound header was cleared off the line.
The Catalan giants remained on the front foot and Lewandowski doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time and scored for the first time since October last year at Camp Nou with a low clinical shot in the box after a through ball by Roberto.
Barcelona opted to play from deep in their own half coming from the break, as they drew Cadiz out and looked for chances on transitions and Lewandowski nearly added a third goal just before the hour-mark with a chip over goalkeeper Jeremias Ledesma that clipped the top of the crossbar.
To keep the game under more control, Xavi did not take chances after Frenkie de Jong was booked and with 20 minutes to play, he replaced him with Franck Kessie and five minutes later, Lewandowski was also rested for Barca as his place was taken by Raphinha in a change of shape going forward.
As Blaugrana sat deep, Cadiz took the opportunity to attack as they had a good spell in the closing stages and Christopher Ramos De la Flor came very close to pulling a goal back nine minutes before time with a toe-poked shot in the box that goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen parried into the bottom post.
Cadiz continued to threaten and Choco Lozano was unfortunate not to reduce the deficit in the dying minutes with a glancing header in the box that beat Ter Stegen but came off the post.
Barca weathered the storm in the tail end to clinch a win that restored their eight-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid at the top of the table.
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