Three talking points ahead of Barcelona vs Mallorca | La Liga MD 23 | OneFootball

When Barcelona took on Mallorca earlier this season, they got off to a flyer with two goals in under 25 minutes and appeared set to win by a landslide margin. 

In fact, the hosts then went down to nine men after seeing two red cards in six minutes and ended up having to play close to an hour with two men and two goals down, setting the stage for Barcelona to annihilate them.

Throughout the game that followed, however, Barcelona went passive and did not look to push for another goal until Lamine Yamal scored in extra time, leaving Hansi Flick with a bittersweet feeling. After all, he is always one to advocate ruthlessness.

The two teams face off in the reverse fixture tomorrow evening, this time at the Spotify Camp Nou, and the manager will hope his side can switch to the right gear this time around.

Barça Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Barcelona vs Mallorca.

Eyes on the big chances

One constant theme across all of Barcelona’s recent games is how wasteful they have been in the final third – particularly at putting chances away.

While the Catalans have indeed been generating chances at an incredible rate – perhaps the best in Europe in that respect – their end product has been disastrous.

Against Albacete midweek, the Catalans created a stunning seven big chances, of which they missed five, scoring just two goals in a game where they could have had triple as many goals.

Turning the clock further back, one remembers their game against Elche, where they could well have scored ten goals, had 13 big chances with an xG of 6.44, and scored just three goals with ten big chances missed.

Having now drawn up Atletico Madrid in the semifinal of the Copa del Rey, Barcelona will soon take to the field in two games against a spirited and clinical opposition, where they must ensure to take every chance they get.

Maintaining the same lacklustre standards in front of goal, thus, is not an option, and the team must look to improve in that respect starting tomorrow. After all, their very next game is at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano.

The big absentee

No Raphinha once again. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

There is really only one place to begin any discussion about Barcelona’s upcoming clash against Mallorca, and it is the big news in the squad.

Raphinha, after all, has been ruled out of the game on Saturday evening in what comes as a huge blow to Hansi Flick’s plans, and it is safe to say that the captain’s absence will be felt.

The winger initially left the field injured at half-time against Elche in La Liga, and was said to be out of the game against Albacete out of ‘precaution’.

When the Brazilian was last unavailable for Barcelona in a league game, they slumped to a defeat against Real Sociedad, dropping points after 11 straight wins, and it was no coincidence.

Not having Raphinha tomorrow will be a great setback for Barcelona, especially in terms of lacking his leadership, energy, and finishing. What Hansi Flick must ensure is that the team’s intensity does not drop – something that happened the last time around.

Concurrently, the situation also means another start for Marcus Rashford and another chance for him to deliver a strong performance. While his numbers are good, he has been wasteful in front of the goal at times, and he will look to improve on that aspect.

Clean sheets have gone missing

While Barcelona’s creative attacking output has been sensational in recent games, their defensive performances and record have fallen to a corresponding low, and even having Joan Garcia in goal is not turning out to be enough.

The Spanish goalkeeper is indeed leaving no stone unturned to maintain a clean sheet, and truly deserves more flowers for the performances he is putting up. 

The defence, however, has been a let-down consistently. While they were seemingly better against Albacete, they still managed to complicate the game by conceding a late goal.

It seemingly appears that the defence cannot maintain their composure, standards, and focus for ninety straight minutes without a moment of lapse in concentration, and these so-called lapses tend to appear towards the beginning or end of games.

The Catalans, as a result, have just one clean sheet in their last six games across all competitions and are perhaps on the worst defensive run they have been in all season. The time to correct it and get back to solid ways is now.