It's ironic for Barcelona and Girona because they failed to secure full points in last night's match. Even though it is clear that they have the opportunity to shorten the difference in points from Real Madrid, who drew against Valencia. I think these two Catalan clubs are unable to compete with Real Madrid to be more fierce in the race for the La Liga title. Barcelon drew against Bilbao and Girona lost against Mallorca, honestly I didn't expect the result to be like that.
I missed several La Liga matches, especially Barcelona and Girona. referring to match highlights, data and statistics, Barcelona controlled the game with 60% ball possession. Barcelona was slightly ahead in terms of opportunities with one big chance out of 8 total shots, two shots on target. unfortunately, Xavi Hernandez's squad was unable to break into the home team's goal. referring to the performance of the players, especially the front line players, they did not play at their best. for Barcelona defenders, only Araujo doesn't perform very well. the rest, play as it should. in this match, apart from not getting full points, Barcelona was disadvantaged by the injuries to De Jong and Pedri. well, I haven't looked for information regarding the development of these two Barcelona mainstay players. I hope that De Jong and Perdri only need a short recovery time. with this result, Barcelona and Bilbao must share the same points. well, as you said. It would be a shame if Barcelona could get full points, at least Barcelona would reduce the gap in points from Real Madrid.
Likewise with Girona, Michel's squad was unable to produce full points when they visited Mallorca. in fact, Girona lost 1-0 to the home team. even though, these two teams have a distance based on their ranking on the standings board. in the end, Girona was unable to reduce the difference in points from Real Madrid, who remained at the top of the La Liga standings.
The injuries suffered by De Jong and Pedri are quite worrying. They are the center of Barcelona's midfield and their role is very important in maintaining the tempo of the game. I wonder, who will replace them temporarily? and even if there were, maybe it wouldn't be as good as the two of them. Now Barcelona are clearly being reprimanded for their lack of preparedness in dealing with injuries to their players, especially Pedri, he even spent almost a season without playing due to injury.
Barcelona should prioritize comprehensive recovery and increase the muscle mass of its players so that if there is a serious injury it will not have a major impact on a player's career. On the other hand, the player will also often lose playing minutes and this will lead to a continuous decline in performance.
Girona really underestimated Mallorca and however they should be able to maximize the advantages they have and not fall with a defeat like this. I didn't expect Girona to have an even squad and even be able to score goals from anywhere but this time they didn't look like that and they had a really hard time penetrating the Mallorca defense. They have to apply the need to learn things when they have a lot of time well so that these results don't happen again.