Barca stunned by defeat at Deportivo

By Richard Martin
BARCELONA, (Reuters)-Barcelona were in danger of being toppled from the top of La Liga standings on Sunday after they suffered a shock 2-1 defeat at lowly Deportivo La Coruna.
Four days after their heroic 6-1 Champions League win over Paris St Germain, Luis Enrique’s men could end the weekend knocked off their lofty perch if second-placed Real Madrid, who trail Barca by a point, beat Real Betis in Sunday’s late kickoff.
Former Real Madrid youth trainee Joselu gave Deportivo a deserved lead in the 40th minute after an error from Barca goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen although Luis Suarez restored parity in the 46th with a powerful drilled effort.
Deportivo defender Alex Bergantinos headed Deportivo back in front in the 74th minute and Barca, who were without Neymar through a thigh injury and clearly missed the Brazilian’s creative impetus, failed to react.
Suarez was denied a second equaliser by a brilliant save from Deportivo goalkeeper German Lux and suffered a first defeat in 20 league games since they were beaten 4-3 at Celta Vigo, also in Galicia, on Oct. 2.
Barca top of the standings with 60 points. Real also have an extra game in hand on Barca.
Depor went into the game one place above the relegation zone but are on the rise under new coach Pepe Mel, who has now taken eight points in four games since succeeding the sacked Gaizka Garitano last month.
The Galicians were far from intimidated by Barca’s recent run of scoring 17 goals in their previous three outings, and did not allow the champions to settle. Joselu fired a venomous shot at goal in the first real attempt for either side, forcing an outstanding save from Ter Stegen to force a corner.
The German let himself down a minute later, though, letting the ball slip out of his hands from a tame shot and Joselu gobbled it up to score from close range.
Barca made the ideal start to the second half as Suarez instinctively drilled a loose ball under Lux to pull level, but they could not faze the home side, who soon set about restoring their lead.
Alejandro Arribas rattled the post with a header and Deportivo were wrongly given a corner, which they took full advantage of as Bergantinos outmuscled Jordi Alba to head home.
“We let them get into the game for too long in the first half and this is what football is like, when you give a team an advantage they always punish you,” Suarez told reporters.
“The PSG result did not cost us today, we’ve had enough days to recover. Deportivo are fighting relegation and we knew it was going to be difficult here but we’re not going to give up the fight for La Liga.”

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