Football Update: La Liga News- Barcelona Slip Up At Camp Nou against Mallorca.
Pep Guardiola’s side was up against Mallorca at Camp Nou, with the promise to score an easy victory. However, their hopes were crushed by a resilient Mallorca, who ended up drawing a point out of a difficult game.
Guardiola had some problems before choosing his starting XI for this match. Xavi was out after an injury, while David Villa was also missing because of suspension, after a red card against Athletic Bilbao, last week. In addition, Guardiola decided to leave
Carlos Puyol and Sergio Busquets on the bench as well. Therefore, the job in midfield was entrusted to Javier Mascherano, Seydou Keita and Andres Iniesta. In the frontline, Barcelona had Lionel Messi, Pedro and Bojan Krkic. Messi was coming back after an injury
which kept him away for two weeks.
Match started well for Barcelona, who immediately established control in the midfield. Mallorca was on the defence from the blowing of the starting whistle, which meant that Barcelona players were allowed to play free in the midfield. However, when it came
to find the finishing touch, the Catalan giants had little options. Mallorca’s goal-keeper, Dudu Aouate, had a busy night as he was tested by the opposition, time and again. However, he denied Bojan in the opening minutes, while Gerard Pique also came in close
of scoring.
Barcelona’s goal came, once again, from their most reliable source, Lionel Messi. As others failed to put finishing touches to incisive moves, Messi once again found an opener from the edge of penalty area. After this goal, he had another chance to make
it 2-0, but he shot directly towards the goal-keeper, who had no one else covering the Argentinean maestro. Seydou Keita then headed wide, while the Guardiola’s men kept on searching for another goal.
However, the goal went against the tide, as Mallorca found the equaliser in the last five minutes of first half. Victor Valdes denied Gonzalo Castro, but the corner proved fatal once again. Mallorca made use of Barcelona’s weakest point, i.e. defending the
set-pieces, as an unmarked Emilio Nsue headed home the equaliser.
The second half started once again with Barcelona dominating the possession in midfield. Messi came in close once again, but his header was not good enough to beat the Israeli keeper, Aouate. Bojan was also looking threatening, but he could not put a shot
past the Mallorca keeper. Nsue, on the other side of the pitch, looked good as well, as he had another chance to score, but he shot over the crossbar.
Barcelona looked desperate to find an equaliser, but the goal did not come. There were certain moments for the home side, but unfortunately, winning goal was not found by the Catalans. Nolito made his debut for Barcelona, and he had a chance to make it worth-remembering.
However, he was unable to find an easy finish, in the last five minutes, which meant that Barcelona would only draw one point from an ordinary performance.
Mallorca now sits in ninth place in the table, but they have already played against the two giants. Amazingly, they have drawn one point from both matches, which is a great result for them. Barcelona, on the other hand, does not look in a comfortable position.
They are currently placed in fourth spot, with only three point difference from eventual leaders Valencia. However, they have slipped up in two of their home games, which should have been easy victories. Due to this, they are in a peculiar position at the
moment, as they seem to be the only side in top four which is still failing to find its form. Their rivals, Real Madrid, found it as well, with scoring six goals against Deportivo. Pep Guardiola, in the coming weeks, has a lot of thinking to do.
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