Barcelona win their first game of the year as they climb higher on the league table.
Barcelona defeated Mallorca with a 1-0 result in their La Liga game on Sunday. The Blaugrana were far from their best form but managed to get the job done at the Iberostar Stadium.
An unexpected hero!
Barcelona started the match in their usual style. Xavi Hernandez’s side quickly established their dominance by gaining possession early on. They came close to scoring several times but struggled hard to find ideas on the edge of the box.
However, the situation finally changed at the latter stages of the game. Following a searching cross from Oscar Mingueza, Luuk de Jong scored the only goal of the night for Barcelona. The Dutch striker raised above Pablo Maffeo to nod the ball past the keeper with a precise header.
The Catalans continued their attacks in the second half. However, they struggled to hold back Mallorca from creating chances on their counter-attacks. Xavi’s side successfully defended the three points as they ended their first game of the year with a victory.
Following the away win, Barcelona climbed up to fifth place on the La Liga table. Next up for the Catalans is a Copa del Ray match against Linares Deportivo.
On the other hand, Mallorca remained winless for the fourth game in a row. They will face Eibar in their next cup game.
Player Ratings
Mallorca: Reina (6); Costa (6), Valjent (5), Russo (6), Maffeo (6); Battaglia (7), Baba (5); Kang-In (6), D.Rodriguez (7), Sanchez (6); Rodriguez (5).
Bench: Llabres (6), Nino (6), Galarreta (7), Prats (5), Mboula (6).
Barcelona: Ter Stegen (7); Araujo (7), Pique (8), Garcia (7), Mingueza (7); Gonzalez (6), De Jong (7), Puig (6); Chakkour (6), De Jong (7), Jutgla (7).
Bench: Pedrola (6), Sanz (6), Lenglet (5).
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