Barcelona kickstart La Liga title defense with win in Mallorca

Madrid, Aug 17 (IANS) Reigning La Liga champion FC Barcelona began its title defense with a comfortable but controversial 3-0 win away to Mallorca

The game was as good as over by halftime after Raphinha put Barca ahead from a Lamine Yamal cross in the seventh minute and Fermin Lopez doubled the lead in the 23rd minute.

The Mallorca players were furious when play was allowed to continue after defender Antonio Raillo went down after clearing a cross into the area, with Lopez scoring as the defender remained on the floor, Xinhua reports.

Manu Morales was booked for protesting and just 10 minutes later he was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Yamal to leave Mallorca with 10 men.

It got even worse for the home side in the 39th minute when Vedat Muriqi was shown a direct red card after the VAR took a look at his high challenge on Barca goalkeeper Joan Garcia who had been registered before kick-off, along with Marcus Rashford.

The home side was even more angry when Raphinha was only shown a yellow card for a late challenge on the stroke of halftime.

The second half saw Barca control the ball, with Mallorca defending stubbornly with two fewer players on the pitch and with goalkeeper Leo Roman making some fine saves.

The home side kept Barca at bay until the 94th minute when Yamal cut inside two tired defenders to score with a curling shot into the top corner to make it 3-0.

Rayo Vallecano kicked off the season on Friday with a 3-1 win away to Girona, whose goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga had a nightmare first half, which included two goal-producing errors and a 43rd minute red card.

Rayo led 3-0 at the break and held on for the win against a rival that had just 10 men on the pitch.

Oviedo's long-awaited return to La Liga ended with a 2-0 defeat in Villarreal. Alberto Reina saw two cards and was sent off in the 27th minute and against 10-man, Etta Eyong and Pape Gueye sealed Villarreal's win before the break.

--IANS

bc/