Controversial penalty restricts Barca to a point

The Catalan club were confident going into the fixture, given that they thrashed the last side Paco Jemez managed, Rayo Vallecano,  5-1 on a Thursday night two years ago, and ‘Los Cules’ class was clear to see early on, with both Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez in the starting XI despite a key game against Chelsea in the Champions League next week.

The duo were lively in the opening minutes, as Messi ran at goal before setting up his teammate but Leandro Chichizola was quick off his line to block the resulting shot.

The opposition goalkeeper would also deny Messi soon after, shifting quick across his goal to jump and save a powerful free-kick from the Argentine forward at full stretch.

Nonetheless, he couldn’t repeat the achievement twice. After a late challenge from Ximo, Barcelona had another set-piece just outside the box and Messi made no mistake this time, whipping it fiercely into the top left corner to give the visitors an early lead.

Las Palmas tried to come back from the disappointment by forging an attack but Etebo’s long-range effort was dragged wide and Jonathan Calleri couldn’t control a long ball over the top of the Barca defence.

- Impending Controversy -

Despite Ernesto Valverde’s side going into the break leading, they were left fuming just before the first-half whistle when Chichizola accidentally handled the ball outside the box, after sprinting 30 yards to block a dangerous long ball to Suarez, and escaped punishment from the referee.

Their anguish would be compounded after the interval as all the decisions in the opening minutes of the second half favoured the home side.

The ball bounced around in the box from a Las Palmas corner and would even go on to hit the post, but the official saw something that no one else did and gave a penalty.

Numerous replays failed to show definitely what made the decision go against Barcelona, who hadn’t conceded a penalty in 78 league matches before Thursday night, with it either between a handball by Lucas Digne or a possible pull-back from Sergio Roberto on Matias Aguirregaray. Although both looked soft.

Either way, the home side had a penalty and Calleri was resiliently calm as he lifted his shot into the roof of the net and past a formidable Marc-Andre Ter Stegen to bring Las Palmas level.

Valverde tried in vain to find a breakthrough again by bringing on Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele but Barcelona couldn’t create a clear cut chance, with Paco Jemez’s side blocking and intercepting anything in the final third.

In fact, it was actually Las Palmas who had the best opportunity to seal three points as Tana made a brilliant run down the left wing. However, his pull-back to Halilovic was too short and easily intercepted by Samuel Umtiti.

The home side still managed to hold on in the final minutes to secure their first point against Barcelona in 17 years and thoroughly deserved it with their spirited display, although luck was certainly on their side.

As for the visitors, they extend their lead at the top of La Liga to five points, but have lost two overall following Atletico Madrid’s 4-0 thrashing of Leganes on Wednesday to set up a tasty clash between the two teams when they face one another at the weekend.