FC Barcelona began its mission to defend its La Liga title on Saturday evening in Mallorca, ending the day with a confident 3-0 victory. The Catalans also benefited from a referee’s failure to blow the whistle and two red cards for Mallorca players.
What looked like a perfect start to the new La Liga season for champions Barcelona turned out to be a very strange start for hosts RCD Mallorca.
The Mallorcans were well aware of their clear underdog status in the clash with Lamine Yamal and Co., but they sold themselves well defensively from the start. However, a moment of inattention led directly to the 0-1, when a cross from Lamine Yamal found the unmarked Raphinha, who headed home from close range to give FCB the lead (7th minute)..
It’s an early blow for Mallorca
In the 21st minute, the underdogs had a great chance to make it 1-1, but striker Muriqi failed to pass to former Bochum player Asano, who was running in behind. Instead, he shot himself and failed with a too central attempt against Ter Stegen’s successor Garcia, who, like Rashford (on loan from Manchester United), was registered just in time before the game.
What happened next could only be described as unusual. Why? Because Mallorca captain Raillo went down after being hit in the head by a long-range shot from Lamine Yamal, remained on the ground, and referee José Luis Munuera Montero put his whistle in his mouth. However, the referee did not blow the whistle, even though referees are required to stop play in the event of head injuries. And so Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres continued to poke and prod before the latter scored cleanly from around 17 meters into the top left corner to make it 2-0 (23′). Complaints followed in quick succession, but the goal stood—much to the amazement of many spectators.
From then on, it was all downhill for the home side, starting with a clear foul by Manu Morlanes on Lamine Yamal. The player had also complained about the 0-2 score, was shown a yellow card and was now sent off with a yellow-red card (33′). And because striker Muriqi, after a pass behind the FCB defense, raised his leg too high against the onrushing Garcia, VAR analysis resulted in a straight red card for Mallorca instead of a yellow (39′).
Shortly before the half-time whistle, Raphinha also went in hard on former Dortmund player Morey, but only a yellow card was shown (45+7). In short: Mallorca was completely fed up and emotionally on edge – even if the result (0-2) was fair.
Lamine Yamal like Robben
With this score and the two red cards, the game was effectively over, and unsurprisingly, the second 45 minutes were uneventful from a neutral perspective. Raphinha came close to making it 3-0 on several occasions, but always missed by a whisker (59th, 71st). Dani Olmo also hit the post with a volley (69th minute), while Pedri (84th minute) and Lamine Yamal (88th and 89th minutes) also missed chances. Rashford, who was brought on by coach Hansi Flick and made his La Liga debut, did not see much action.
It was not until the fourth minute of stoppage time, shortly before the end of the game, that Flick’s protégés finally made it 3-0. Lamine Yamal cut in from the right in the best Arjen Robben style, waited and finally curled the ball unstoppably under the crossbar.
FC Barcelona, the reigning champions, thus started the new La Liga season with an unchallenged and confident 3-0 win and can now look forward to their next away game at UD Levante (August 23, 9:30 p.m.). Meanwhile, Mallorca will try to put this somewhat unfortunate home game behind them when they face Celta Vigo (August 23, 5 p.m.).
