Connect with us

Published

on

Barcelona Thrash RC Mallorca To Return To Winning Ways, Back To Top LaLiga Table—-Hansi Flicks men return to winning ways with a convincing win against RC Mallorca 5-1 away from home after a 3-game winless run.

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 Bilbao in the final Champions League spot.

Ferran Torres gave Barcelona the lead, before Vedat Muriqi equalised to ensure the sides were level at the end of an even first half.

Raphinha and Yamal then 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.

“We knew how important it was to win again. In the last three games something has been missing. Today we were good, it wasn’t our best game but winning was the most important thing,” Barcelona captain Raphinha told Movistar.

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 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.

– ‘Give everything’ –

Another defensive lapse nearly restored the visitors’ lead on the stroke of half-time, but goalkeeper Leo Roman bailed out Raillo for his poor back-header by denying Raphinha one-on-one.

The Mallorca ‘keeper thwarted the Brazilian again early in the second period, punching away a fizzing free-kick from close range.

But it was eventually third time lucky for Raphinha in his duel with Roman as he flashed a 56th-minute penalty just beyond the Spaniard’s reach.

The sheer pace of the returning Yamal had earned the spot-kick as he raced onto Olmo’s through-ball, before being brought down by Mojica inside the box.

Barcelona struggled creatively in Yamal’s absence, and the 17-year-old displayed his brilliance again moments later when an inspired backheel created a chance out of nothing, until Pedri’s snapshot was blocked.

Raphinha made the game safe for Barcelona with 14 minutes remaining when he knocked home a magnificent outside-of-the-foot cross courtesy of Yamal.

“I’m living my best moment but I don’t want to stop there. I want to do much more for this crest. It’s a club that I love enormously. Everything I can give on the pitch, I’ll give it,” said Raphinha.

Euro 2024 winner Yamal repeated the trick five minutes later, this time finding the forward run of Victor, whose pass across goal was cut out, but only as far as the onrushing De Jong who finished unerringly.

De Jong then turned provider in the final 10 minutes as he squared for 23-year-old substitute Victor to score.

Yamal could have capped off a superb second-half showing, but his dinked finish near the end was well saved by the defiant Roman.

0Shares
Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Sports

BREAKING: Harry Maguire 121st Minutes Header Send Manchester United To The UEFA Europa League Semis As Lyon Fumbled 2 Goals Lead

Published

on

Maguire 121st Minutes Header Send Manchester United To The UEFA

BREAKING: Harry Maguire 121st Minutes Header Send Manchester United To The UEFA Europa League Semis As Lyon Fumbled 2 Goals Lead—-Harry Maguire was the hero as Manchester United reached the Europa League semi-finals in astonishingly fashion, beating Lyon 5-4 on an unforgettable night at Old Trafford when both teams blew two-goal leads, advancing 7-6 on aggregate.

Thrashed 4-1 at Newcastle United in the Premier League last time out, Ruben Amorim needed a positive reaction from his men – and it came quickly, Manuel Ugarte sweeping home on 10 minutes to complete a slick team move and notch his first Old Trafford goal.

Back between the sticks after being left out of the trip to Newcastle following his pair of costly mistakes in United’s 2-2 first-leg draw, Andre Onana made a point of celebrating his side’s opener in front of the travelling Lyon fans.

Diogo Dalot’s goal in stoppage time capped a hugely encouraging first half in which United showed great aggression to take the game to Lyon and go in two goals up at the break for the first time since November.

Man Utd remained well on top the first 25 minutes of the second half but, after Alejando Garnacho had missed a chance to make it 3-0 on the night, found themselves facing a nervy finale when Corentin Tolisso pulled a goal back for Lyon.

And when Nicolas Tagliafico bagged an equaliser seven minutes later, things became more than nervy.

Tolisso’s red card shortly before the end of normal time ought to have handed the initiative back to Man Utd, but the hosts appeared shellshocked from throwing away such a healthy-looking advantage.

Lyon came out all guns blazing at the start of extra time to go 4-2 up on the night and lead 6-4 on aggregate, Rayan Cherki putting his side ahead before former Arsenal forward Alexandre Lacazette’s penalty seemed to have put the tie to bed.

But the second half of extra time was to prove to be one of the most dramatic periods of football Old Trafford has witnessed in its long and glorious history.

A Bruno Fernandes penalty gave Man Utd hope, before substitute Kobbie Mainoo struck in the 120th minute to, seemingly, send the tie to penalties.

There was to be no need for the lottery of a shootout, though, as, barely one minute later, Maguire, pushed up front as an emergency centre-forward once again, sparked unadulterated pandemonium by meeting Casemiroqw’s cross to head home a winner which had seemed so far away barely six minutes earlier.

Man Utd’s progression keeps alive their hopes of sealing Champions League qualification as Europa League winners, an achievement which would go some way to mitigating what looks set to be their lowest league finish for 35 years.

0Shares
Continue Reading

Sports

BREAKING: Chelsea Through To UEFA Conference League Semis Despite Shock Home Defeat To Legia Warsaw

Published

on

Chelsea Through To UEFA Conference League Semis

BREAKING: Chelsea Through To UEFA Conference League Semis Despite Shock Home Defeat To Legia Warsaw—-Chelsea reached their first European semi-final under their BlueCo ownership, though you would not have known it by the reaction at the full-time whistle.

Fans booed as confirmation came of this second-leg loss to a side sitting fifth in the Polish Ekstraklasa, despite Enzo Maresca turning to his A-listers for the visit of Legia Warsaw.

Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson took themselves to 15 and 12 games without scoring respectively, and there were further jeers from fans when they felt the football was too tedious.

Chelsea are overwhelming favourites to secure this trophy, but still need to win over their fanbase.

Those arriving at Stamford Bridge thought with such a comfortable lead from the first leg, Enzo Maresca would turn to the Cobham conveyor belt. They supposed wrong. Maresca’s substitutes’ bench was certainly chokka with academy kids, but his actual line-up was of Premier League strength, which was surprising with an important trip to Fulham less than 72 hours away.

Even Palmer started. He had not scored in any competition since January 14. He should have got a goal here after 84 seconds when one-on-one with Vladan Kovacevic but the out-of-form Englishman missed the target entirely.

When Christopher Nkunku was then denied by Kovacevic, Palmer rushed on to the rebound. He tried a diving header, but Legia’s goalkeeper recovered to produce a super save.

Legia’s first attack after 10 minutes led to them scoring as Chelsea goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen crashed into Tomas Pekhart to concede a penalty. Pekhart took it himself, scoring to make it 1-0 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate despite Jorgensen diving the right way.

Legia should have further reduced the deficit when Ryoya Morishita broke behind unmarked, but he dragged wide when facing down Jorgensen.

After 32 minutes, Jadon Sancho crossed low, Marc Cucurella tapped in, and Chelsea’s three-goal advantage on aggregate was restored. They had not scored in any of their last eight first halves but had now. Cucurella thought he had added another before the break, but VAR correctly disallowed it for an offside in the build-up.

At half-time, Maresca replaced Jackson with Tyrique George, the 19-year-old who went up top. After 50 minutes, another youngster in Josh Acheampong lost possession carelessly in midfield as Legia broke forward, with Jorgensen needed to stop Luquinhas from scoring.

The visitors won a corner from that move, and the out-swinger was volleyed towards goal by Claude Goncalves before being helped in by Steve Kapuadi for 2-1.

Chelsea’s fans were frustrated and as was the case in Sunday’s draw with Ipswich, they let it known by jeering as their team tried to pass their way out of the back. Legia’s away support responded by lighting dozens of flares.

Maresca’s side went in search of a leveller with Noni Madueke and George both denied by goal-line clearances. Jorgensen was relieved when another penalty was not awarded against him after colliding with Luquinhas, and George was frustrated when the offside flag denied him a goal.

0Shares
Continue Reading

Trending

0Shares