Barcelona’s 125th anniversary celebrations were dealt a major blow as they suffered a shock 1-2 defeat to Las Palmas at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The loss was Barça’s first home defeat of the season and marked a disappointing end to a week of festivities marking the club’s 125th anniversary.
The match got off to a slow start, with Barcelona struggling to create clear-cut chances against a well-organized Las Palmas defense. The visitors, on the other hand, looked dangerous on the counter-attack, with former Barça striker Sandro Ramírez causing problems for the home team’s defense.
Las Palmas took the lead just four minutes into the second half, with Sandro firing a rocket into the bottom corner to score against his former club. Barcelona pushed hard for an equalizer, and it finally came at the hour mark as Raphinha fired a beautiful shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
However, Las Palmas were not to be denied, and they regained the lead just six minutes later as Fábio Silva scored with a well-placed shot. Barcelona pushed hard for a second equalizer, but it was not to be, and the final whistle came to confirm a deserved 1-2 defeat for the home team.
“We’re disappointed with the result, but we have to give credit to Las Palmas,” said Barcelona manager Hansi Flick. “They played a great game and deserved their win. We have to analyze our performance and see where we can improve.”
The defeat marks Barcelona’s third straight league game without a win, and they will be looking to bounce back quickly. Real Madrid can now go top of the table if they win their two games in hand, and Barcelona have to make a very tough trip to Mallorca in just three days in desperate need of a win.
“We know that we have to improve our performance if we want to achieve our goals,” said Flick. “We’ll work hard in training this week and look to bounce back against Mallorca on Tuesday.”
Barcelona’s team sheet: Peña; Kounde (Fort 56’), Cubarsí (Víctor 90+2’), Iñigo, Balde (Martín 26’); Gavi (De Jong 57’), Pedri; Raphinha, Fermín (Ferran 56’), Torre (Yamal 46’); Lewandowski
Goal: Raphinha (61’)
Las Palmas’ team sheet: Cillessen; Viti (Benito 83’), Suárez, McKenna, Mármol (McBurnie 90+2’); Sandro (Marvin 73’), Kirian (Fabio 83’), Campaña (Loiodice 68’), Moleiro; Muñoz, Silva (Mata 73’)
Goals: Sandro (49’), Silva (67’)
