Mallorca 2-2 Barcelona: Match Review

Mallorca 2-2 Barcelona: Match Review

On Matchday 7 of La Liga, on Tuesday night at Estadi de Son Moix, the league’s top team Barcelona faced Mallorca.

The Catalans were very confident after their comeback victory over Celta Vigo. However, Mallorca consistently causes issues for the Catalans, and tourists were aware of this.

Given the busy schedule that evening, Xavi Hernandez made the understandable decision to shuffle his cards. The manager started both Ronald Araujo and Inigo Martinez in place of Jules Kounde and Andreas Christensen while keeping the fullbacks the same.

Gavi, Oriol Romeu, and Ilkay Gundogan made up the midfield despite the two serious injuries. Ferran Torres played as the number nine as Robert Lewandowski was rested for the final third.

On the right and left wings, respectively, Raphinha and Joao Felix completed the starting lineup.

Both teams continued to compete for possession in the first minutes of the game at Son Moix, but it was obvious that Barcelona was not in the zone. The first few minutes saw the Catalans nervous, giving Mallorca a tiny advantage.

The hosts edged over Barcelona after just eight minutes of play. Marc-Andre ter Stegen gave it to the team as a present after making a careless pass out of overconfidence.

The German’s pass was intercepted by the eager Mallorca attackers, who launched a barrage of shots at the frail goal. Vedat Muriqi ultimately wasted his chance to hurt Barcelona.

After going down, Xavi Hernandez’s team gradually regained control of the game in the minutes that followed. With Joao Felix creating the visitors’ first significant chance of the game in the 20th minute, they started making strong progress against the Mallorca defense.

In the first half, Raphinha was the only attacking player on the side who posed a serious threat. Four minutes after giving Felix his chance, he gave Ferran Torres the opportunity to score, but the Spaniard was unable to take advantage of it.

As the minutes passed, Barcelona’s possession eventually started to translate into real possibilities. By the 40th minute, Barcelona controlled all of the coordinated attacking transitions.

Raphinha scored the visitors’ equalizer with a spectacular finish, as was expected. The Brazilian set himself up with one touch after receiving the ball outside of Mallorca’s area before launching it behind Predrag Rajkovic.

The goal scorer squandered yet another wonderful opportunity to give his team the lead in the 45th minute, and Felix followed suit a minute later. When it looked like the Catalans would tie the game at halftime, Xavi’s team gave up a second goal.

The second goal of the game for Mallorca was straightforward but entirely avoidable by the Blaugranas. They were duped into a straightforward long-goalkick transition, and Ter Stegen was partially to blame for obstructing Ronald Araujo due to his unsureness.

Xavi Hernandez’s team was down a goal at the break, and rightfully so.

Barcelona started the second half reasonably fired up in an effort to surprise Mallorca. The first significant opportunity, however, came out of nowhere when Felix fired from a distance and struck the woodwork.

Just before the hour mark, Torres was replaced by Robert Lewandowski. Oriol Romeu and Joao Felix were replaced by Fermin Lopez and Lamine Yamal on the field after six minutes.

The game continued in a tense manner as Mallorca tenaciously thwarted each attack from Barcelona. For the visitors, Yamal appeared to have gained a penalty, but VAR disallowed it.

Eventually, La Masia star Fermin Lopez scored the equalizer in the 75th minute. The objective was beautiful in and of itself.

Once more, Yamal’s forward movement was the source of the action. Before the Brazilian blasted a fantastic cutback in the center, the youngster found Raphinha in space on the left wing. The Mallorca defense was rendered irrelevant by Lewandowski’s dummy, and Lopez took the honors of burying the cross.

After the goal, Inigo Martinez was replaced by Jules Kounde.

The game was poised to go any way, so both teams fought hard for a late winner in the final ten minutes. Both, though, were unable to make it happen.

Barcelona loses two crucial points and perhaps the top spot in the league standings as a result of the tie. On Real Madrid’s match tomorrow night, all eyes will be on it.