Diego Martinez masterminds first home defeat for Flick

Barcelona 1-2 Las Palmas

Barcelona were fresh off the back of their 125th anniversary celebrations on Friday night, and while they were not at their best in the first half, Las Palmas took the game to them. Both sides found space in the final third, but Fermin Lopez could not convert Pablo Torre’s pass, and Fabio Silva was just too small to head home for Las Palmas from close range.

There was a scary moment for Barcelona, as Alejandro Balde struggled to breathe following a challenge from Sandro Ramirez, whose shoulder made contact with the left-back’s neck. He ended up stretchered off the pitch. That pause was followed by lull in proceedings. Barcelona were close to nicking the lead before the half though, as Jasper Cillessen halted Pedri’s effort, and Raphinha’s excellent effort clipped the bar on the way over.

Opportunities that Barcelona would rue after the half. Five minutes into the second period, Las Palmas executed the perfect counter-attack, with Scott McKenna finding Javi Munoz in midfield. His touch into Kirian Rodriguez set Pio Pio running towards goal with a three on three, and finding Sandro, the former Barcelona ban fired low past Inaki Pena into the corner.

With Lamine Yamal on, Hansi Flick had five changes on by the hour-mark, when it looked like they were heading towards a comeback. Raphinha cut inside, and found the bottom corner with a rasping effort after growing pressure. Yet Fabio Silva got in behind the Barcelona defence again, just five minutes later. A ball from right-back into Silva saw him touch it clear of the backline, and just when it looked like Hector Fort had gotten back round in time, Silva finished neatly into the corner.

The Blaugrana tried to up the ante on multiple occasions, but outside of Raphinha free-kick – expertly tipped over by Cillessen, struggled to create much. A late penalty appeal for Pau Victor went unheard either by the referee or in the VAR room, but Hansi Flick’s side have bigger problems, with no Liga win in three games.