Barcelona limped to an underwhelming 1-0 victory over Mallorca on Friday evening, with young Lamine Yamal to thank once again.
The teenager’s glorious strike midway through the second half was a much-needed moment of magic for Barcelona, who dominated possession and had plenty of shots on goal without ever really showing any quality up until that moment.
Ilkay Gundogan missed a first-half penalty for Barcelona but the sensational Blaugrana fans will be delighted to escape with three points ahead of Tuesday’s season-defining Champions League clash with Napoli.
How the game unfolded
Predictably, Barcelona dominated the possession battle early on but sights of the Mallorca goal were few and far between. It took 20 minutes for the first real action as Raphinha went down just inside the penalty area. The referee was urged to take a look at the incident and subsequently pointed to the spot after spotting a trip on the Brazilian’s ankle.
Up stepped Gundogan, but his tame effort was comfortably pushed away by Predrag Rajkovic, before Cyle Larin helped scramble the ball clear.
Larin wasn’t far off breaking the deadlock at the other end ten minutes later. Vedat Muriqi’s flick-on had the Canada international stretching at the back post, and he was inches away from the sort of contact which could have caused Marc-Andre ter Stegen a real scare.
Joao Felix fizzed wide from range as Barcelona tried to knock on the door. The hosts did have plenty of shots on goal but few caused any real problems and Mallorca’s back five will be delighted with their performance in the first half.
Muriqi sent a header crashing against the post early in the second half, before Lamine Yamal saw a ferocious strike tipped on to the crossbar by Rajkovic.
The introductions of Robert Lewandowski and Vitor Roque injected some life into Barcelona and the two substitutes combined as the former’s cross was headed over the bar by the young Brazilian.
However, it was Yamal who finally saved the day. With 20 minutes to go, the youngster bent home a gorgeous goal from the edge of the penalty area which breezed into the top corner to hand all three points to Barcelona.
GK: Marc-Andre ter Stegen – 6/10 – Largely a bystander.
RB: Jules Kounde – 6/10 – Not massively involved but did make a handful of big interceptions when Mallorca threatened to make something happen on the counter.
CB: Pau Cubarsi – 7/10 – Another mature defensive performance from the teenager, who…
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