The vigor of Mallorca stops the good inertia of Barça

Barça had to suffer, but could not get more than one point from their visit to Mallorca. Javier Aguirre's team even went ahead on the scoreboard on two occasions, through Vedat Muriqi and Abdón Prats, against a Barça team that was stifled in attack by its defensive structure but that, even so, managed to get a point thanks to two isolated blows from Raphinha, in the final moments of the first half, and from a young Fermín López whom Xavi takes into account with a view to both the present and the future. [Narrative and statistics (2-2)]

It suited Mallorca that Ter Stegen, usually very confident in playing with his feet, was not fine in a seemingly innocuous movement of the ball that Muriqi, on the second after a rebound from Ronald Araujo collected by Antonio Sánchez, He was in charge of making it 1-0 before 10 minutes were up. The blaugrana, gripped by the fact of finding themselves unexpectedly behind, were excessively hasty and anxious when looking for the rival goal.. Those of Aguirre, meanwhile, terribly physical, on the other hand, took advantage of every approach to put fear into the body.

Raphinha, the great argument of Barça's attack throughout the first 45 minutes, however, was able to find a fair reward for his efforts with a left-footed shot from the edge of the area that would become the momentary 1-1 in the twilight of the first part. With the equalizer, the Blaugrana promised themselves very happy.

Waiting for a revulsion

They even came close to 1-2 with a new action by the Brazilian and a twisted play between Gündogan, Cancelo and Joao Félix that the local goalkeeper, Rajkovic, was in charge of disrupting. However, it would be Mallorca who would put things in the way again, thanks to a goal kick from the home team perfectly combed by Muriqi that Prats sent to the back of the net in the first half's added time..

Ferran Torres, replacement for Lewandowski with many minutes in his legs, was not having his night. And the same, except for that final spark, can be said of Joao Félix whom the locals tried to make desperate by using his most physical repertoire.. After the break, of course, Barça needed a boost. Therefore, it is not at all strange that Xavi very soon sent the Pole and the young Lamine Yamal to warm up on the wing.

Finally a reference

Mallorca, meanwhile, opted to cede practically all the initiative to the Barcelona fans and try to catch the final blow through the counterattack while remaining tremendously armed at the back.. With the entry of the former Bayern player, Barcelona's attackers finally got a reference to which they could feed with balls, although, to tell the truth, they did not spend too much effort on that task either.

However, the one who had a brilliant entrance on the pitch was Yamal. As soon as he took the field as a replacement for Joao Félix, who was very well controlled by the local defense, he caused Muñiz Ruiz to point out a penalty that finally went to limbo at the request of the VAR.. It would be another young man, Fermín López, who was in charge of making it 2-2 after a twisted play between Lamine Yamal and Raphinha and a timely drop by Lewandowski so that the midfielder could score his first goal in the First Division at will.. With practically 15 minutes left, Barça had time to look for something even more. The scoreboard, despite everything, would not move again.