Barcelona started off their league campaign with an easy 3-0 win away at Mallorca which had a lot of self-inflicted wounds.
There was already a story from this game before a ball was even kicked as Jules Kounde was benched in favor of Eric Garcia.
There are questions whether Kounde is dealing with an injury or if Hansi Flick preferred the offensive capabilities of Garcia for this specific matchup.
There was also the news that came out before kickoff that Joan Garcia had to leave warmups with a finger injury, but the goalkeeper was able to still make his Barcelona debut.
Now to the game, Barcelona took control early on with possession and Lamine Yamal dribbling past players. In the 7th minute Lamine whips in a ball to Raphinha who headers the ball in to open the scoring.
Barcelona continued to hold on to possession with Mallorca creating some half chances by exploiting the high line.
Then comes some controversy as Lamine shoots, defender Antonio Raillo falls to the ground after heading away the ball, but the referee doesn’t blow the whistle and Ferran Torres smashes the ball from outside the box and the goal was given.
Mallorca players were furious as some of them believed the whistle had blown and others thought it should’ve been blown.
Manu Morlanes gets a yellow for protesting and gets a controversial second yellow card nine minutes later for a foul he committed just outside of the box.
Just six minutes later, striker Vedat Muriqi gets a red card after a VAR review for a high boot that connected with Joan Garcia.
Just like that Mallorca are down 2-0 and down to nine men in 39 minutes.
The half ended with more fury for Mallorca as a rash Raphinha challenge was deemed a yellow card by the referee which the players and fans felt could’ve been a red.
The second half was as you’d expect with Barcelona holding on to the ball and creating chances but Mallorca held off well and goalkeeper Lee Roman made a few saves.
Rashford made his debut, which was a less than stellar performance from him but it’s understandable since it’s his first game in a while.
The final kick of the game was a Gavi pass to Lamine where he fakes the shot, glides past three defenders, and puts the ball in the top corner to make it 3-0.
Just like that, Barcelona cruise to a win and Mallorca leave the game feeling hard done by.
