news.rthk.hk

Barcelona return to winning ways at Mallorca

Raphinha and Lamine Yamal inspired Barcelona to a first win in four La Liga outings as they beat Mallorca 5-1 on Tuesday.

The comprehensive victory brings the Catalans to 37 points at the top of the league table, four ahead of second-placed Real Madrid, but with two extra matches played.

Carlo Ancelotti's Spanish and European champions will have the chance to cut that lead back to one point on Wednesday when they travel to Athletic Bilbao.

Mallorca stay sixth in La Liga, still two points behind Athletic Bilbao in the final Champions League spot.

Ferran Torres gave Barcelona the lead, before Vedat Muriqi equalised to ensure the sides were level at half-time.

Raphinha and Yamal lit up the second half as the away side ran riot with the Brazilian scoring a double, followed by strikes from Frenkie de Jong and Pau Victor.

Barcelona were boosted by the return of teenage starlet Yamal, who started the match after recovering from an ankle problem.

Hansi Flick's side dropped points in the two league outings Yamal missed, and were also defeated last time out at home to lowly Las Palmas when he was only fit enough to start on the bench.

The hosts gifted Barca the lead in the 12th minute when panicked defending resulted in Torres being presented with a golden opportunity when there seemed to be no danger.

As a trio of Majorcan defenders shepherded the ball back to their goalkeeper, full-back Johan Mojica suddenly decided to try to lash it away, only to smash the ball straight into Antonio Raillo and it fell perfectly to the feet of the Barcelona forward, who duly stroked home the opener.

The Catalans' high defensive line caught Mallorca out on several occasions as they tried to spring their attackers with passes over the top.

Mallorca were, however, starting to build pressure on Barcelona, though the visitors remained dangerous on the counter with their fleet-footed attacking quartet of Yamal, Dani Olmo, Raphinha and Torres.

A second goal in the match did not seem far away, for either side, and it came for the hosts in the 43rd minute.

Inigo Martinez was deeper than the rest of the Barcelona line and Pablo Maffeo timed his run onto Sergi Darder's pass to perfection, before rolling the ball across to Muriqi to tap into an open net. (AFP)

Read full news in source page