Liga: FC Barcelona stumbles in Mallorca!

A few days after its success and this incredible comeback against Celta (3-2), FC Barcelona was already back in business for this match on the seventh day of La Liga. The La Liga leader was traveling to Mallorca, 45 minutes away by plane, to challenge the local team, who were in a poor position in the league with this 17th place. For this duel, Xavi relied on a slightly reshuffled attacking trio, since Ferran Torres and Raphinha were lined up alongside João Félix. Robert Lewandowski therefore started on the bench. In the midfield, the coach relied on Oriol Romeu, Gavi and Gündoğan. Opposite, there was Vedat Muriqi, the Kosovar danger of the island team…

And it was even he who would open the scoring. On a poor restart from Ter Stegen, there was a series of balls pushed back into the area, until the ball hit the striker’s feet. Without being asked, he sent the ball into the back of the net (1-0, 8th). Faced with the low and well-organized block of Javier Aguirre’s team, Barça struggled to put their game in place. The aggressiveness of the rival and the rotations made by Xavi were felt, and it was even Mallorca which offered itself the hottest situations, like this well-felt strike from Dani Rodriguez (16th). João Félix began, little by little, to show himself more and more in the last meters, but the Portuguese was easily neutralized by his opponents as soon as he tried to make a difference. The Catalan possession began to become more and more insistent, but, at the half-hour mark, it was still without danger for Rajkovic.

Insufficient performance from Barça

The clock was ticking, and Barça could not find solutions to break through this insular wall. Shortly before the break, Ferran Tores failed to beat Rajkovic after this nice serve from Gavi. The Barcelona striker failed to win his mano a mano with the Mallorca goalkeeper on this first big Catalan opportunity (39th). However, we wouldn’t have to wait long to see the equalizer. A clear strike from Raphinha at the opposite post from outside the area allowed Xavi’s troops to get back on track (1-1, 41st). Barça finished strongly and Raphinha could even have scored a double a few minutes later. Felix even forced Rajkovic to pull out a nice hand. While the 1-2 seemed to be taking shape very clearly on the horizon… a twist of events! On a long deflection from Muriqi’s header, Abdon Prats went behind the defense and, faced with Ter Stegen, author of a somewhat risky exit, put his foot down so that the leather finished its race at the back (2 -1, 45th+3). Sanction, for a very average FC Barcelona this evening.

Upon returning from the locker room, inevitably, the Catalans were moving forward. Félix, with a great inspiration, saw his attempt hit the post (55th). In the process, Xavi brought in Robert Lewandowski to give new impetus to his team. Having also just entered the game, Lamine Yamal thought he had won a penalty. But the referee canceled it after seeing the images (65th). But it was neither Yamal nor Lewandowski who would equalize. It was Fermin Lopez who scored the second Blaugrana goal. Raphinha put a ball into the area, and it was the young La Masia midfielder who, well placed, crucified Rajkovic (2-2, 75th). Not shaken, the locals tried to respond and Ter Stegen made a decisive intervention on Larin (82nd). The score did not move again despite a good header from Lewandowski and a miss from Larin in added time and Barça remains first, even if it could lose its status as leader depending on the results of the meetings between Girona and Real Madrid .