Barcelona eliminated Las Palmas thanks to a controversial penalty in stoppage time

Barcelona managed a tense match at Las Palmas, the decisive goal in the 2-1 win was scored by Ilkay Gundogan after a disputed penalty. The Catalans were trailing at half-time, with Ferran Torres scoring alongside Gundogan.

Barcelona’s Joao Cancelo had the first chance of the game in the second minute, but his attempt from inside the penalty area was knocked down by defenders. The same player also had to be substituted after ten minutes due to injury, replaced by Denmark’s Andreas Christensen.

A quarter of an hour of horror was capped off by an own goal, a ground shot to the left post by the home team’s Munir El Haddadi, who grew up in Barcelona. Las Palmas bit, Sandro Ramirez scored twice. First offside, then Iñaki Peña’s intervention was brilliant.

And in the 29th minute, the same player fired a third time, this time hitting the left post. The last part of the opening half did not offer anything important. It was ended by an attempt from Frenkie de Jong, but he had no chance to get past the Las Palmas defenders.

After the change of sides, it was like a different Barcelona. In the 51st minute, Raphinha got into a good position but missed the target. Five minutes later, the visitors were celebrating. Ferran Torres was the best man in a messy situation and equalised with a cross.

The Catalans wanted to take advantage of the pressure to turn it around, but after Ilkay Gundogan’s centre, de Jong missed the ball cleanly and the goalkeeper had an easy job. In the 65th minute, Raphinha tried his luck again from the edge of the box, but he undercut the ball too much and again missed the target.

After that the game was level again and Mika Marmol could have given the home side the lead back, his header after a corner kick just missed the far post. On the other side, the stopper and the goalkeeper had a bad call and Vitor Roqueale was unable to finish in front of the goalkeeper.

In the 91st minute, the head referee awarded a penalty after Gundogan was pushed through, and Daley Sinkgraven saw a second yellow card. The ball was taken by the fouled player himself and converted. Barcelona held on to the win and after a 2-1 win they are still seven points behind first place. The hosts are tenth.

Source: Nova Sport 3