Barcelona suffered their first home defeat of the season as The Palms stunned the Spanish league leaders 2-1 at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys.
Barcelona have played superbly in the first three months under Hansi Flick. Coming into the visit of Las Palmas, Barça were flying high after convincing victories over Real Madrid in La Liga and Bayern Munich in the Champions League, winning all eight home games to start the campaign. But Flick’s side have now gone three La Liga rounds without a win. Before the loss to Las Palmas, Barça fell 1-0 at Real Sociedad and drew 2-2 at Celta Vigo.
In the latest defeat Sandro Ramírez and the Wolves loanee Fábio Silva scored for the Canary Islands club, either side of Raphinha’s equaliser.
Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal returned as a half-time substitute from a right ankle injury that he had been sidelined with for three weeks, but Jasper Cillessen saved his best effort. The Las Palmas goalkeeper also did well to palm Raphinha’s free-kick over his bar in the final minutes.
“I think when we don’t score the goals, the team struggles a little bit and this is what we have to change,” said Flick. “If we don’t score a goal, then maybe it’s possible for us to keep a clean sheet. So we have to defend better as a team, not only the last four or the defensive players, but the whole team and we can do it better.”
The defeat also spoiled Barcelona’s 125th anniversary celebrations and the introduction of the club’s new mascot, a large yellow feline named Cat. The name is play on Barcelona’s standing as the leading club in Catalonia, with the four red stripes on Cat’s forehead referring to the Catalan flag.
Cat was first unveiled at an anniversary gala on Friday night and follows in the tradition of the club using historical landmarks to introduce new mascot, with the short-lived Clam created for Barça’s 100th anniversary.
Barça great rivals Real Madrid, who have had their own troubles, especially in Europe, can now move ahead of Barcelona should the reigning La Liga champions win both games in hand. The first is at home to Getafe on Sunday.
Atlético Madrid are only two points behind Barcelona in second place – and with the same number of games played – after Antoine Griezmann scored one of the goals of the season in a 5-0 demolition of last-placed Valladolid.
Griezmann exchanged a quick one-two with Julián Álvarez and used a sleek touch of the inside of his boot to roll the ball with him as he spun before dinking it over the goalkeeper. That was the visitors’ fourth goal. Shortly after, Valladolid fans stood up and applauded when Griezmann was substituted.
“That is what every players wants, to make people enjoy what we do. So I appreciate their warmth,” Griezmann said. Atlético also got goals from Álvarez, Clément Lenglet, Rodrigo de Paul, and Alexander Sørloth.
Espanyol beat Celta 3-1 to end a streak of four losses in the league and relieve pressure on their coach, Manolo González. Alavés drew 1-1- at home to Leganés.
Milan’s coach, Paulo Fonseca, was delighted with his team’s 3-0 win over Empolione of Serie A’s least generous teams, on Saturday.
Tijjani Reijnders’ double and a goal by Álvaro Morata earned Milan a comfortable victory over 10th-placed Empoli, with the hosts taking the lead in the 19th minute.
“We played a great game against a team that is very aggressive defensively, which has the fourth-best defence in the championship,” Fonseca said. “We played a very balanced game, offensively and defensively.”
Paris Saint-Germain were held to a rare home draw by underdogs Nantes in a Ligue 1 clash when an early goal from Achraf Hakimi was cancelled out by Matthis Abline.
The match had barely started when Gonçalo Ramos flicked a cross into the box to Hakimi, who easily slotted the ball into the net, giving PSG a flying start after just two minutes. However, Nantes refused to give up against the league leaders, equalising seven minutes before the break. PSG pressed hard for a late winner, driving Nantes into a resolute defensive stance, but the visitors held firm, weathering the storm.
PSG are still alone at the top with 33 points, seven points ahead of Monaco who play Marseille on Sunday, while Nantes are in 16th, the relegation playoff spot, with 11 points.
