FC Barcelona 1-2 Las Palmas: Celebrations soured

Today was supposed to be a day for celebration. And at first it was. Coming the day after the spectacular 125th Anniversary Gala at the Liceu opera house, there was a party atmosphere in the build-up, including a debut appearance of the new mascot, a brand new anthem and the team appearing in a unique halved shirt with white shorts, honouring the original club colours of 1899.

Unfortunately, Las Palmas had not read the script. After a winning every home fixture to date, Barça crumbled to 2-1 defeat this Saturday, meaning that they have now only mustered one out of a possible nine points from there last three games.

No matter what happens, they will still be sitting at the top of the table when the weekend is over, but Real Madrid have two games in hand. What was once a runaway lead has been cut down to almost nothing.

Balde concern

The first worrying scenes came early in the first half when Alejandro Balde took a very nasty-looking knock and had to withdraw with concussion. As per the new rule, it wasn’t counted as a true substitution and Las Palmas were also allowed one extra change.

As for the action, since Diego Martinez took over the then winless Canary Islanders, their performances have improved enormously. With three former Barça men in their starting line-up (Jasper Cillessen, Mika Mármol and Sandro Ramírez), they had no intention of being a mere sideshow in the anniversary party.

In a very lively game under gorgeous December sun, there were early signs of the horrors to come. Las Palmas were making it very difficult for Barça to finish off any of their many openings, while creating plenty of trouble of their own at the other end.

Lamine returns

Raphinha did have the ball in the net seconds before half-time, but there were no celebrations. He was well offside and he knew it. Moments later the same man could have scored the most brilliant of solo goals, but the final shot struck the crossbar.

Barça were at last on top and the hope was that they’d saved their best for the next 45 minutes. And those expectations were raised when Lamine Yamal, absent from recent games through injury, was introduced for the second half.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go quite to plan. Just four minutes after the restart, with just five touches from their own area to the other, Las Palmas took the lead. And it was Sandro Ramírez, a graduate of Barça’s own youth system, who delivered the final blow.

Hope turns to despair

This wasn’t supposed to be happening, and the players knew it. They upped the intensity in search of a response and although the Las Palmas defence held out well, there was nothing they could do when Raphinha thundered home a strike from the edge of the penalty arc.

Barça were back level and hungering for more. And they very much looked like they were going to get it. But moments after Cillessen made an outstanding save to deny another substitute returning from injury, Ferran Torres, the visitors stunned Montjuic with a second.

In all fairness, it was a beautiful piece of football from Portuguese forward Fabio Silva, but from a Barça perspective there was nothing nice about it at all.

Foiled by Cillessen

There were still 23 minutes (and what would be a further eight of injury time) left to sort this out and avoid the first defeat to Las Palmas since 1986, and the first at home since 1970.

The chances were certainly there. The biggest problem was Cillessen. The Dutchman was inspired against his former club, his stop against Raphinha’s splendid free kick perhaps the most impressive of his many interventions.

Barça piled everything forward, Las Palmas packed everything back. The final minutes were a constant onslaught on Cillessen’s net. But it wasn’t going to happen.

Hansi Flick's have lost at home for the first time this season. Not the start to the anniversary year that anybody wanted. Tuesday brings a chance to make up for today's setback as Barça visit Mallorca, kick off at 7pm CET.