FC Barcelona 1-0 Mallorca: Dani Olmo leaves LaLiga at the mercy of the 'culés'!

FC Barcelona does not give ground in the lead of LaLiga EA Sports 2024-25. On Tuesday, the 'azulgrana' team added a new victory, the 24th of the tournament, to get closer to the title, this time against Mallorca (1-0).

The result, very short for the difference in play between both teams, allows the Catalans to go again to 7 points of Real Madrid, waiting for what the 'merengues' do on Wednesday against Getafe. After that, there will only be 5 matchdays left to play.

Hansi Flick opted for an unprecedented XI, giving rest to Jules Koundé, Pau Cubarsí, Frenkie de Jong and Raphinha ahead of the Copa del Rey final and the first leg of the 'semis' of Champions against Inter Milan. Eric García occupied the right side, while Ronald Araujo and Gavi did their homework as central defender and pivot, respectively.

The main novelty, without a doubt, was the presence of Ansu Fati as left winger, accompanying Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres in the offensive trident. The entry of Héctor Fort for Gerard Martín was also striking. After a fairly even first quarter of an hour, Barça bombarded the rival area to turn goalkeeper Leo Román into a figure.

Initial siege of Barça with Pedri and Lamine inspired

Mallorca was close to surprising the 'culé' defense with two arrivals from the left in which Héctor Fort was surpassed. However, Szczesny responded with very timely clearances, measuring his exit with his right hand with precision.

Barça reacted with a high shot from Lamine and, after the 25th minute, the siege of the Balearic goal was total. The first to test Román's reflexes was Dani Olmo, taking advantage of a perfect pass from Yamal with the outside of his right boot to be one-on-one against the Spanish goalkeeper, who responded with a saving slap in the narrowing to send the ball to the corner.

Then Ansu had it, with his chest after a great cross from Pedri, and Gavi, the latter fishing a rebound inside the area to shoot straight to the base of the post, after a deflection in a rival. A couple of minutes later, Lamine demanded Román with his usual shot from the right side. The rebound fell to Ronald Araujo, but the '4' could not give direction to his right-footed shot.

Mallorca miraculously survived in the first half

In the 40th minute, there was a series of four simultaneous chances for Barça, cleared in extremis by Román and the Mallorca defense. The laughs of disbelief were mutual between 'culé' and Balearic players, since only chance kept the goal of Jagoba Arrasate's team at zero.

Afterwards, Pedri invented a spectacular play to enable Fati, but the '10' was not fine in the definition on the left, shooting wide. Towards the end there was a goal from the former 'culé' Mateu Morey, again overflowing on Fort's side, but the full-back was slightly ahead at the time of Sergi Darder's pass.

At halftime, the statistics were overwhelming. Barça had 24 shots, 6 on goal, compared to Mallorca's 0. In addition, the 'culés' had 8 corners in favor and 88% possession. Leo Román went to the locker room with 5 saves, but his resistance would soon fall in the second half.

Dani Olmo opened the scoring in the 46th minute with a great goal

Dani Olmo, celebrating his goal against Mallorca

Both teams jumped onto the field without variants and, in the first arrival of the complement, came the goal that Barça deserved from about the 25th minute. Dani Olmo received a pass from Eric García from the right and, despite being surrounded by rival defenders, found space to take a tight left-footed shot, unstoppable for the goalkeeper.

For the '20', it was his ninth goal in LaLiga (20 matchdays) and the tenth of the season in 31 matches in all competitions. In addition, the attacking midfielder managed to score in consecutive matchdays, something he had not done since matchday 5.

Flick's team only took 40 seconds to break the zero in the second half, an impossible mission before the break. After 1-0, the 'culés' continued attacking. Ansu and Lamine tried with two shots from the front of the area, while Mallorca reacted with a free kick from the left side where Raíllo almost scored with a header.

Barça slowed down, but maintained the advantage

Barça players celebrating their goal against Mallorca

In the 60th minute, Flick refreshed the 'azulgrana' attack with the entry of Raphinha and Fermín López for Ansu and Olmo. Both players received a resounding applause from the 'culé' fans, who took the opportunity to leave a pampering to the '10' in his reappearance in Liga. The one from Bisáu went from more to less, with 1 shot on goal, 2 deflected and another blocked by a rival.

However, he could only win 1 of 8 individual duels, beyond recovering a couple of balls and generating 3 clear chances. Dani, on the other hand, had 4 shots (2 on goal), including the goal that opened the scoring.

In the following minutes, the match lost intensity and the visitors created a couple of dangerous opportunities via aerial route. In the final quarter of an hour, Flick put Gerard Martín and Pau Víctor for Fort and Ferran.

Just afterwards, Leo Román reappeared with his tenth save of the match, this time in a one-on-one against Lamine Yamal. The one from Mataró was alone against the goalkeeper after a masterful pass from Pedri, but he met the goalkeeper's quick narrowing.

Leo Román avoided another 'azulgrana' rout

The substitute goalkeeper of Mallorca, against all odds, was the MVP of the match, with a total of 14 saves. Pau Víctor also tested the goalkeeper's reflexes towards the end, but there was no way to extend the advantage.

Even so, Barça did their homework with another victory at home that leaves the title much closer. In the next matchday, the 'culés' visit a Valladolid already relegated. Afterwards, it will be the turn of the Clásico against Madrid in Montjuïc, where the 'azulgrana' team has everything to sentence the championship at home.

Match sheet of the match: FC Barcelona 1-0 Mallorca

• FC Barcelona, 1: Szczesny; Araujo, Eric, Iñigo, Héctor Fort (Gerard Martín, min. 77); Gavi, Pedri; Dani Olmo (Fermín, min. 60), Lamine Yamal (De Jong, min. 86), Ansu Fati (Raphinha, min. 60); Ferran Torres (Pau Víctor, min. 77).
• Mallorca, 0: Leo Román; Mateu Morey, Valjent, Raíllo, Copete, Mojica (Lato, min. 81); Samú Costa (Domenech, min. 66), Mascarell (Salas, min. 86), Antonio Sánchez (Fernández, min. 81), Darder; Larin.
• Goals: 1-0, Dani Olmo (min. 46).
• Referee: Miguel Ángel Ortiz Arias. He cautioned Samu el Costa for Mallorca.
• Stadium: Olímpico Lluís Companys de Montjuïc
• Incidents: match corresponding to matchday 33 of LaLiga EA Sports 2024-25