De Jong's goal gives Barcelona victory over Mallorca in La Liga
Barcelona managed to beat its host Real Mallorca 1-0, on Sunday evening, in the 19th stage of the Spanish Football League.
Luke de Jong scored the game's only goal in the last minute of the first half.
Barcelona raised its score to 31 points in fifth place, becoming only one point behind the first four places, where Atletico Madrid occupies fourth place with 32 points.
On the other hand, Mallorca's balance froze at 20 points in fifteenth place.
The match began with the control of Barcelona, who entered the match with several absences in its ranks, while its young coach, Xavi Hernandez, relied on the trio of Elias Akhmash and Ferran Gutgla, along with Dutch striker Luke de Jong.
Akhmash hit a powerful ball from outside the penalty area, but Mallorca goalkeeper Manolo Reina caught it in the 15th minute.
Despite the great possession by the Barcelona team, his attempts did not provide anything new and did not pose a great threat to Mallorca's goal.
Barcelona's efforts and pressure on his opponent resulted in scoring the first goal in the last minute of the original time of the first half through Dutch striker Luke de Jong, who invested a cross from his colleague Menguiza, to header into Manolo Reina's net, to end the first half with the progress of his team.
In the second half, Barcelona continued to put pressure on Mallorca, while the latter did not exchange attacks, except at intervals, for fear of receiving another goal in the net.
Barcelona's Nicholas Gonzalez hit a creeping ball from outside the penalty area, but it passed to the right post of Mallorca's goal in the 53rd minute.
Barcelona's attempts to score another goal continued, as its veteran defender Gerard Pique headed a header towards Mallorca's goal, before the defense removed it in the 58th minute.
The last minutes of the match witnessed several attempts by Mallorca to equalize, but German Mark Ander ter Stegen managed to tackle it to secure his team's three points.
The rest of the match minutes did not witness anything new, so the referee blew the whistle at the end of the match, with Barcelona winning 1-0.
Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news