A goal from De Jong at the edge of the first half hour of the game gave Barca a 0-1 victory on their visit to Alcoraz to face SD Huesca on Sunday night.
Ronald Koeman’s side start the year with victory and return to the Europa League positions after finishing 2021 somewhat off the hook.
With Antoine Griezmann back on the bench and a forward formed by Pedri, Lionel Messi and Braithwaite, Barcelona showed signs of rebuilding, although the Huesca team put them in trouble on more than one occasion, forcing Ter Stegen to stain.
The Catalan club was able to score more goals, with once again an extraordinary Pedri who, however, was not successful in the face of goal, like Ousmane Dembele, who failed in the definition. Despite these shortcomings, the Barcelona attack left good feelings.
To the little fortune in some of the Barcelona occasions, we must add an excellent performance by Alvaro, the Huesca goalkeeper, who signed two saves to avoid a wider negative result for his team.
From time to time the minutes went by, with a Huesca that went from more to less and that in the last minutes, although he did not lose faith, he hardly approached the goal of the Catalans.
Barcelona, on the other hand, was more to regulate, signing a second half doubtful after a first act of dominance.
In the last ten minutes, Griezmann had his opportunity to claim and Barcelona to close the game, but they did not finish finding a way.
With this victory, Barcelona move up one position to fifth in the standings 28 points from eight wins, four to a draw, and four defeats. They fell behind 10 points from Atletico Madrid. Huesca, meanwhile, continues to be drowned in the dangerous part of the table.
