A narrow win against Mallorca returned Barcelona to winning ways at Camp Nou!
Barcelona defeated Mallorca 2-1 in their La Liga game on Sunday. The Catalans leapfrogged Sevilla as they reclaimed the second spot in La Liga.
First Camp Nou win in four games!
Barcelona came into the game on the back of their surprise defeat against Rayo Vallecano last week. Prior to that, Xavi Hernandez’s side had lost their previous two home games against Cadiz and Eintracht Frankfurt.
The La Liga giants showed an improved performance early on as they managed to control the pace of the game quickly. Following several missed chances, Memphis Depay opened the scoring for Barca in the 25th minute.
Mallorca found a few serious chances to clinch the equalizer, but they couldn’t find the back of the net before the half-time whistle.
Barca managed to regain control over the possession as soon as the second half started. After a half-cleared shot by Ferran Torres, Sergio Busquets doubled Barca’s lead with a brilliant low strike in the 54th minute.
The Catalans found enough chances to score throughout the second period, with their third goal being ruled out by VAR. However, it was Mallorca who managed to get back into the game with Antonio Arenas’ stunning volley in the 80th minute.
The hosts pushed hard to get the equalizer in the final ten minutes, but Barca escaped with the victory to end their poor run at Camp Nou.
What’s next for Barcelona?
Barcelona move back up to second place after their closest rivals, Sevilla, drew 1-1 against Cadiz.
Xavi’s side will now prepare to face Real Betis in their next La Liga game. Let’s see if the Spaniard will use the newly-returned Ansu Fati in his starting lineup for the game.
Player Ratings
Barcelona: Ter Stegen (6); Alves (7), Pique (7), Araujo (6), Alba (6); De Jong (6), Busquets (8), Gavi (7); Torres (7), Aubameyang (6), Depay (8).
Bench: Fati (5), Garcia (6), Lenglet (6), Dembele (5).
Mallorca: Rico (6); Russo (6), Valjent (5), Raillo (7); Maffeo (6), Sanchez (5), Battaglia (6), Olivan (7); Rodriguez (5); Rodriguez (6), Nino (5).
Bench: Kang-In (6), Hoppe (6), Sevilla (7), Kubo (6), Grenier (5).
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