FC Barcelona drew against Mallorca last night and dropped two important points that can come to haunt them later in the title race.
The visitors went down early in the first half as Ter Stegen made a mistake, but his blushes were short-lived as Raphinha canceled that goal out in the first half.
However, Mallorca scored another goal before the half-time whistle, which Fermin Lopez equalized in the second half, but Barcelona could not score the third to win the game.
Aguirre on the overturned penalty
There were high chances for the Catalans to score this third goal in the latter stages of the match, as Yamal was apparently fouled in the Mallorca box, and the referee gave a penalty to Barcelona. However, the VAR overturned this penalty.
This action has generated much controversy, and Xavi claimed after the match that it was a penalty. Xavi’s claim is provided even greater credibility as Mallorca’s coach, Javier Aguirre, also shared this feeling, which has been reported by Mundo Deportivo, after the match:
“As my friend Medina Cantalejo would say, it’s a soft penalty. Yes, there’s contact, but the guy was already trying to dive. It’s tough to be a referee; my players fool me in training.”
Missed chance at the end of the game
While Barcelona were unlucky not to get this penalty late in the match, the Catalans were also lucky as Mallorca also missed a clear chance in the very last minutes of the game, which could have seen Barcelona come empty-handed from this match. On Larin’s miss, Aguirre jokingly commented:
“The scoundrel must be feeling terrible, son of my life… those chances shouldn’t be missed. He used to put those in the top corner against Valladolid. I know it would have been too much of a reward to win the game, but you have to convert those opportunities. He [Larin] even said a rude word in English to me after the game and shook my hand.”
Thus, both teams could very well have walked away with the full three points if events had gone in their favor in the final moments of the match. But as fate would have it, they shared one point each, and would now be looking to get back to winning ways with their upcoming games in La Liga.
