Barcelona won in the last minute, but Xavi must be worried about what Vitor Roque did

This Thursday Barcelona played their match against Las Palmas at the Estadio de Gran Canaria knowing the rest of the results of the 19th round of La Liga. They knew, for example, that Real Madrid had beaten Real Mallorca 1-0 and Girona had beaten Atlético Madrid 4-3. This meant that both teams had secured the lead in the standings and had taken a 10-point advantage over Los Blaugranas.

The pressure was therefore very great for Xavi Hernandez's team, because if they failed to win, their chances of competing for the title with Real Madrid and Girona would be greatly reduced. And that, added to the poor performances they have had in the last 2023 matches, made this Thursday's game a difficult mission for them.

During the first half, Las Palmas were superior to their opponents. They found a way to nullify Barcelona's virtues. And not only that. They also controlled the ball and created opportunities to score goals. In fact, after 12 minutes they netted the opener through Munir El Haddadi, who received a drilled cross from Sandro and shot inside the box, making goalkeeper Iñaki Peña's reaction useless.

However, after the break the hosts began to lose energy and that prevented them from maintaining the rhythm they had had during the first half. The Blaugranas took advantage of this, began to dominate the ball and little by little things changed. Ferrán Torres scored the leveller after 10 minutes and in stoppage time Ilkay Gundogan grabbed the winner from the spot, after a Daley Sinkgraven foul inside the box.

The new signing failed

Despite the joy at the victory, perhaps boss Xavi Hernandez is concerned about what happened to Vitor Roque. The Brazilian striker arrived from Athletico Paranaense last week and made his debut on Thursday, but things did not go well for him: he had two perfect chances to score his first goal, but missed on both occasions.