LaLiga leaders Barcelona lost 1-0 to Leganes on Sunday. Defender Sergio González’s early header was enough to stun the wasteful hosts, who lost their second straight league game in front of their own fans.

While they have done brilliantly in the Champions League with five wins in six games, Barcelona have been struggling in LaLiga for over a month with just one win in their last six league games.

Barca remain at the top of the LaLiga standings with 38 points, level with Atlético Madrid, who they host on Saturday, and one point ahead of Real Madrid in third place, with both title rivals still having a game in hand.

It was Leganes’ first ever win against Barcelona and they finished 15th in the table with 18 points.

Leganes took the lead from a corner after four minutes when visiting captain Gonzalez rose unchallenged at the near post and fired an unstoppable header past goalkeeper Iñaki Peña.

Barca wanted to equalize immediately, but despite dominating throughout the game with over 80% possession, they were clueless as they tried to overcome a disciplined and well-organized Leganes five-man defense, missing a handful of chances in the process.

---

They missed the target with 16 of their 20 shots in the game, and when they did, they hit the wall of Leganes goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic, who made three spectacular saves in the first half.

The 32-year-old Serbian goalkeeper made a brilliant reflex save to deny Robert Lewandowski’s first attempt in the 10th minute after Raphinha had delivered a fine individual effort on the left.

He then showed his magic in the 33rd minute with a stunning save to redirect a Raphinha volley onto the crossbar, and stepped up again a few minutes later to block an attempt from Lewandowski when the striker was one-on-one .

The hosts’ frustration grew after the break and they missed several chances, with Dani Olmo, Lamine Yamal and Raphinha all missing good chances, while Lewandowski and Jules Koundé were denied by the goalkeepers from close range.

“It is impossible for us to go home happy after what happened today,” a visibly frustrated Pedri told DAZN. “We lacked the spark in attack to score goals and we need to go into games better. We can’t allow our rivals to score goals like that at the start.”

“I think we created chances but we have to know how to finish them. It’s hard to explain why we struggled in LaLiga, but we have to go one step further.”