By Sedara Oluwadara
Barcelona farewelled Gerard Pique with a 2-0 victory over Almeria in front of over 92,000 fans at the Nou Camp.
The legendary Barcelona defender announced his intentions to retire after this match on Thursday after 14 years with the club and played a sound game, helping his side to keep a clean sheet in the biggest home crowd for Barcelona in three years.
Somehow the game remained scoreless at half-time with Robert Lewandowski missing a penalty, while Ferran Torres and Ousmane Dembele also missed gilt-edged chances.
Dembele opened the scoring within three minutes of the restart, though, taking a long cross-field ball from Sergio Busquets and then cutting into the box and slotting inside the far post.
The lead was doubled when opposition goalkeeper Fernando Martinez made one of many point-blank saves, this time from Ansu Fati after Jordi Alba’s cross, and Frenkie de Jong was on hand to blast home.
The result lifts Barcelona above Real Madrid at the top of the table, where they will stay at least until les Merengues play at Rayo Vallecano on Monday.
