Greg . 2 days ago

Yamal and Raphinha on target for Barcelona in opening day win over nine-man Mallorca

Reigning LaLiga holders Barcelona opened their title defence with a 3-0 victory over Mallorca at the Estadi Mallorca Son Moix, making it eight consecutive away wins and extending the Pirates manager Jagoba Arrasate’s personal streak of losses against the Catalans to nine matches.

Barcelona took the attacking initiative from the first whistle, and took the lead on seven minutes after an early period of sustained pressure, when a superb cross from Lamine Yamal was headed in at the far post by an unmarked Raphinha.

A spirited Mallorcan side attempted to get on terms, and Joan Garcia was equal to Vedat Muriqi’s tame effort before the visitors netted a controversial second goal.

Despite the hosts having a player prone on the floor after heading clear – and the official even having the whistle in his mouth – Barca played on and Ferran Torres finished beautifully into the top corner.

The disbelief all around the Estadi Mallorca Son Moix was palpable, and Manu Morlanes’ red card on 33 minutes made Mallorca’s job even harder.

With some home fans eyeing the exits, the hosts’ farcical first half then hit a new low just six minutes later, when Muriqi saw red for a kick to Garcia’s face, though it could easily have been 10 vs nine when Raphinha roughly tackled Mateu Morey in the seventh minute of injury time.

The mere yellow card he received for that indiscretion was met with a vociferous barrage as the teams walked off at half-time.

Unsurprisingly, the second half very rapidly turned into an ‘attack vs defence’ type scenario, and Yamal continued to torment his direct opponents, delivering two crosses in quick succession that almost resulted in a third goal for the visitors.

Before long, a superb one-handed save from Leo Roman again kept Barça at bay just before the hour mark, and though he was beaten shortly after by Raphinha’s curled low drive, the shot agonisingly went just wide.

In a rare opportunity for the hosts to halve the deficit, Johan Mojica’s free-kick on 65 minutes deserved a finish, but no Mallorca player gambled on such a pinpoint delivery.

Hoping to shut down any opportunity of a highly improbable Mallorca fightback, Hansi Flick waited only two further minutes to hand Marcus Rashford his competitive debut for Barcelona, with the Englishman entering the field along with Gavi and Jofre Torrents.

Flaunting their superior depth, Barca continued to pour forward, with Dani Olmo hitting the post and Raphinha missing a carbon copy of the opportunity he’d had a few minutes earlier.

Pedri also tried his luck late on too, with a blistering piledriver – but it was Yamal with the third that topped off his man-of-the-match performance in injury-time.

As so many times before, the youngster moved inside and unleashed a curling left footer that had Román clutching at thin air.

Ultimately, Barcelona sauntered to their 14th win in 17 opening day fixtures (D2, L1), leaving Mallorca to lick their wounds after losing a Matchday One fixture for the first time in 10 seasons.

Betopick Man of the Match: Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)You can find match stats and more here