With such an unmissable opportunity after Real Madrid’s dramatic win over Leganes yesterday evening, Barcelona wasted no time in asserting their superiority at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys.
Fermin Lopez was the first to threaten, seeing an effort inside the box blocked by a Girona defender, before Robert Lewandowski fired a shot towards the bottom-right corner that Paulo Gazzaniga smothered well.
And another scare came Girona’s way soon after, when Yáser Asprilla appeared to bring down Lopez inside the box, but the original decision to award a free kick on the edge of the area survived even after a VAR monitor review from Juan Luis Pulido Santana.
Although the free kick came to nothing, it was still Barcelona dictating the tempo from there, and Ronald Araujo almost opened the scoring in the 21st minute, only to see his header from a corner palmed away instinctively by Gazzaniga.
Girona’s determination to hold out until half-time before anything else looked to have paid off as the final minute of the first half loomed.
But fate had different ideas, as when Yangel Herrera conceded a free kick on the edge of the box, the subsequent delivery was diverted in by Ladislav Krejci after Lamine Yamal appeared to flick a header past Gazzaniga.
From virtually nothing, Girona surprisingly drew level eight minutes after the restart.
A giveaway on the right flank from Araujo put Barcelona under pressure, and Daley Blind pounced on the loose ball amidst their panic, putting Arnaut Danjuma in on goal with an incisive pass.
The Dutchman beat Araújo for pace with ease, firing into the Blaugrana net for his fourth LaLiga goal of the campaign.
Barcelona rallied, and normal service was resumed just after the hour mark, as – just moments after Eric Garcia hit the post from range – a sequence of passes culminated in Gavi crossing to the far post for Lopez.
Knowing he wasn’t best placed to head in at such a narrow angle, he opted to head across goal where Lewandowski was lurking in his trademark way, and leapt high to direct the ball under Gazzaniga and put himself on 24 LaLiga goals – two clear of Kylian Mbappe at the scoring charts summit.
Having scored 3+ goals in a league-high 13 of their 28 games, Barcelona were richly expected to remove all doubt against the side they had thrashed 4-1 in September.
Lewandowski duly met those expectations when a lightning break forward enabled Frenkie De Jong to move the ball out left to the Polish powerhouse inside the box.
Cool as ever, he placed an unstoppable shot into the opposite corner, before Ferran Torres matched the reverse head-to-head scoreline, when he met a squared Gerard Martin ball from the left and nonchalantly controlled it before putting it low beyond Gazzaniga to complete the scoring.
Barcelona will thus enter April in a prime position to get their 28th LaLiga title, while Girona will want to forget this episode quickly. They were simply outclassed from first whistle to last, and have now won just once in their previous 11 away fixtures across all competitions (D2, L8).
Flashscore Man of the Match: Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona)