Barcelona managed to salvage a hard-fought 2-2 draw against Mallorca on Tuesday, extending their unbeaten run in the LaLiga season. The Blaugrana secured a valuable point but face the possibility of relinquishing their LaLiga lead to Girona or Real Madrid.

From the very beginning, the match between Barcelona and Mallorca seemed to be locked in a tough battle. Barcelona midfielder Oriol Romeu acknowledged this, saying, “The game got stuck from the start. We’ve had two games with a bit of a bad feeling and we need to improve. We are giving too many chances.”

One glaring issue for Barcelona was their vulnerability to counter-attacks, which forced them to cover a substantial amount of ground. Romeu emphasized the need for improvement in this aspect of their game. Follow your favourite football team with attractive La Liga odds from Nextbet. 

Mallorca made their intentions clear early on and managed to take the lead in the 8th minute when Vedat Muriqi capitalized on a defensive error by Barca’s goalkeeper, Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

However, Barcelona displayed their resilience as Raphinha unleashed a powerful shot into the bottom left corner, equalizing the score in the 41st minute. The parity was short-lived as Abdon Prats restored Mallorca’s lead with a simple finish in stoppage time, assisted by Predrag Rajkovic’s remarkable long clearance and a Muriqi header.

The second half saw Mallorca easing off the gas, allowing Barcelona to find an opening. Barca’s substitute Fermin Lopez took advantage of Raphinha’s low cross from the right, tapping it home in the 75th minute to level the score at 2-2.

Barcelona’s coach, Xavi Hernandez, pointed out defensive errors as a significant problem in the match. He said, “The problem was our defensive errors, these are improper mistakes that shouldn’t happen, especially in this type of tight, intense match.”

With their unbeaten record still intact, Barcelona will now look ahead to their upcoming clash against Sevilla on Friday, followed by a trip to Porto for their second match in the Champions League group stage. The Blaugrana are keen on addressing their defensive vulnerabilities as they aim to maintain their strong start to the season. Get the latest updates from the La Liga only on Nextbet Sports.