Barcelona 1-0 Mallorca: Olmo keeps Flick's team on track for title
Barcelona piled the pressure on Real Madrid at the top of LaLiga, beating Mallorca 1-0 to stretch their lead at the summit.
Dani Olmo's goal earned Barcelona a hard-fought 1-0 win at home to Mallorca, stretching their lead over Real Madrid at the top of LaLiga to seven points.
With Madrid not in action until Wednesday, when they face a potentially awkward trip to Getafe, Barca knew they could take another step towards the title in Montjuic.
Barca dominated proceedings despite Hansi Flick deciding to rest several key starters ahead of Saturday's Copa del Rey final against bitter rivals Madrid, but Mallorca goalkeeper Leo Roman put on a show between the sticks.
He denied Olmo with a reflex save midway through the first half, while Gavi's deflected effort struck the post and Ronald Araujo missed a glaring chance from six yards out.
Lamine Yamal, Pedri and Hector Fort also went close before half-time as Barca laid siege to Roman's goal, but they finally broke the deadlock one minute after the restart.
The breakthrough came via a fine piece of individual skill from Olmo, who took the ball in a tight space inside the box and quickly fired a left-footed shot into the bottom corner.
Roman denied Yamal one-on-one and was also worked by Pau Victor as Barca sought a clinching goal, but they ultimately did not need a second as Mallorca failed to threaten.
The win lifted Barca to 76 points at the top of LaLiga, with Madrid on 69 with an additional game to play, ahead of the Clasico rivals meeting in Saturday's Copa final.
Data debrief: Shots fired by Barca
Mallorca could not really have too many complaints about Tuesday's result.
Despite being without the injured Robert Lewandowski and leaving Raphinha on the bench for over an hour, Barca attempted 40 shots throughout the game.
That saw them equal the record for a single game in LaLiga since Opta records began in 2003-04, with Madrid also managing 40 versus Real Zaragoza in 2011.
Barca attempted 26 of those shots from inside the box – the most by any team in a single LaLiga match this season, while their 63 touches in the opposition area have only been bettered once, by the Blaugrana themselves against Real Sociedad last month (66).