La Liga: Barcelona Title Defense Continues vs Las Palmas thanks to a late penalty from Ilkay Gundogan

Champions Barcelona defeated Las Palmas 2-1 on Thursday after Ilkay Gundogan scored a stoppage-time penalty.

After leaders Real Madrid and Girona triumphed on Wednesday, Xavi Hernandez’s team really needed to win; the result put the Catalans seven points behind the top two.

After a strong 2-0 victory over Sevilla earlier on Thursday, Athletic Bilbao is in fourth place, while Atletico Madrid is in fifth after a thrilling 4-3 loss to Girona.

The mid-table Canary Islanders, who grabbed the lead in the 12th minute via former Blaugrana striker Munir El Haddadi, sometimes outplayed Barcelona.

After being knocked down in the area as he was about to head into an empty goal, Gundogan scored the game’s winning penalty. In the second half, Ferran Torres tied the score for Barcelona.

“They had two or three chances in the first half, but they only had a corner in the second half,” Xavi said to Movistar.

“I believe that we made wise substitutions, and it showed.”

After the interval, Barcelona played well and put the hosts on the back foot. Torres scored soon to tie the score.

The coach replaced seasoned striker Robert Lewandowski with forwards Joao Felix, Lamine Yamal, and recent recruit Vitor Roque in an attempt to find the winner.

“Ferran consistently performs admirably for us,” Xavi said.

“Every player will receive minutes, and there is intense competition at the top.”

Francisco Garcia Pimienta, the coach of Las Palmas and former head coach of Barcelona’s reserve squad, and his club gave their esteemed guests a night that was mostly disappointing.

The Catalans, who suffered greatly in the first half, suffered an early setback when Joao Cancelo injured his left knee in a challenge early in the game and had to be substituted.

Following the game, Xavi said that Cancelo’s injury seemed to be minor and will be examined on Friday.

Another product of the Blaugrana youth system, Sandro Ramirez, set up Munir for the opening with a low cross.

The hosts got the better of the first half, with Inaki Pena tipping a low shot from Sandro wide. Xavi’s team were disjointed and even uninterested at times.

The first opportunity for the visitors came from Frenkie de Jong, who sent Sergi Roberto scampering through on goal, but Mika Marmol, another former Barcelona player, blocked his pass for Ferran Torres.

“INADEQUATE TIME”
As they have done many times this season, Barcelona picked up their game after the break, and Raphinha hammered home following Pena’s excellent save to deny Munir.

Just over ten minutes into the second half, a Las Palmas clearing rebounded back into danger off the unintentional Robert Lewandowski, giving Barcelona the equalizer.

Torres rolled a low attempt beyond Alvaro Valles’ reach after Sergi Roberto lay off the ball.

Marmol had a great opportunity to put Las Palmas up again, but he headed wide from a corner.

For the last 12 minutes, Xavi introduced Vitor Roque, a Brazilian striker who had just joined Barça from Athletico Paranaense. Roque looked impressive.

As the German midfielder attempted to head home a parried shot, Daley Sinkgraven knocked over Gundogan to surrender a penalty and end the contest.

In order to preserve Barcelona’s championship defense, Sinkgraven was dismissed and Gundogan sent Valles the wrong way from the spot.

Despite missing a fantastic chance to seal the win and score his first goal for Barcelona, Roque’s squad nevertheless emerged victorious and relieved.

“We were ahead and the most important thing was that we scored three points,” Torres said to Movistar. “We knew they were an opponent that wanted the ball.”

“We had to attack the spaces because they played with a high line, and our final ball was not played with enough timing.”

Without star player Inaki Williams, Ernesto Valverde’s stellar Athletic Bilbao defeated Sevilla thanks to goals from Mikel Vesga and Aitor Paredes. Ghana will play in the Africa Cup of Nations.

Sevilla, who hired Quique Sanchez Flores as their new coach in December, is now 16th in the league, one point above the relegation zone.