Las Palmas 0-2 FC Barcelona: Still going strong
Barça have ensured they stay top of the La Liga for at least another week with a 2-0 victory in the Canary Islands. The pressure was on after a 3-0 win at Valencia had moved Atlético Madrid into pole position, but the Catalans got their part of the job done too thanks to goals from substitutes Dani Olmo and Ferran Torres.
Not that it was an easy ride. Las Palmas put up a strong fight from start to finish, and it wasn’t until several minutes after the regulation 90 minutes had already been played that the second goal arrived and we could finally relax.
No score at the interval
Indeed, Las Palmas may be fifth from bottom in the table, but that’s higher than they were when they came to the Estadi Olimpic earlier this season, and they won that game. So, Barça knew this match would be a lot harder on grass than it looked on paper... and that certainly proved to be the case.
Much as they dominated 70% of the possession in the first half, the blaugrana struggled to find a way through the well-organised home defence, with Lamine Yamal coming closest with an angled strike that looked to be heading goalward but rolled just wide of Jasper Cillesen’s post.
In fact, albeit fewer in number, Las Palmas’ attacks were worryingly more effective, but they failed to finish them off, in no short measure thanks to some solid goalkeeping from Wojciech Szczęsny.
Olmo on to score
Barça were suffering from gridlock and something needed to change in the second half. How about sending on Dani Olmo? Yup, that’ll work.
62nd minute. Lamine Yamal played the substitute through from the edge of the area. A tricky shuffle to find the right shot ended with the ball bounding in off the crossbar.
Lovely jubbly, and at long last it was 1-0 thanks to Olmo's first goal since November.
Safe at last
Barça had two or three quick chances to double their lead before Las Palmas regained some control of affairs, without really troubling their guests until a potential penalty call for an Eric Garcia handball. After much kerfuffle it was eventually established that the original pass had been offside, so none of it mattered anyway.
Predictably, the final few minutes brought a surge of yellow shirts hoping to salvage something for the team, but any concern that they might do just that was ended when Barça scored their second deep into the eight minutes of added time.
Raphinha supplied the ball and Ferran Torres rocketed home the finish, which like Olmo’s opener also struck the crossbar on its way in.
2-0, three points and still top of the league... Way to go!