BARCELONA.- The young Lamine Yamal appeared with a superb goal with which the Barcelona won 1-0 Mallorca on Friday to feed their desire to fight to reaffirm the Spanish League title.
Yamal, who is 16 years and 239 days old, sent a cross shot inside the area to the goal to break the deadlock in the 73rd minute.
“I am very happy for the victory and for the clean sheet. I tried to pin the full-back and since they left me space I looked for the shot,” said Yamal. “It was a game of a lot of work. They have made it difficult for us. Anything that helps the team is great for me.”
With the victory, Barça claimed second position with 61 points, leaving it five behind the leader Real Madrid, which hosts Celta de Vigo on Sunday.
The Barça team is waiting to close the day in second position for the first time since the eighth round. He hopes that Girona does not beat Osasuna to remain as the runner-up with 10 games left in the tournament.
Yamal once again was Barcelona’s offensive key. In the first minutes of the second half he hit a powerful left-footed shot against the crossbar, thanks to the fact that goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic managed to slightly deflect the ball that was heading for goal.
He then scored his sixth goal of the season (fourth of the championship) when he received the ball in the area, made a cut inside and made a lob shot that went into the nets through the fork.
The hosts threw away their best chance to break the deadlock in the 24th minute, when Ilkay Gundogan missed a penalty kick, which was saved by Rajkovic. It was an action for which referee Javier Iglesias resorted to video in order to signal a foul on Raphinha.
Barcelona modifications:
Barça initially rested the star forward Robert Lewandowski in the attack axis, who came on for the complement, while the injured Pedri, Frenkie de Jong and Ferran Torres watched the game in the stands.
After this victory, the culé team can focus on its duel on Tuesday in which it will host Napoli in the second leg of its Champions League round of 16 series, which is tied 1-1 after the match in Italy.
Mexican strategist Javier Aguirre’s Mallorca, qualified for the final of the Copa del Rey, suffered this defeat that leaves it in 15th position with 27 points, eight points above the relegation zone.
Source: AP
