Barcelona had a smooth start against a Mallorca side that was reduced to nine men in the 38th minute.

Barcelona began their defense of their La Liga title with a victory under the shadow of controversy. The Blaugrana's second goal, scored by Ferran Torres after Raphinha had made it 1-0 following a well-chosen pass from Lamine Yamal , was heavily protested by the home side as Raíllo was left on the ground in pain after clearing the Rocafonda native's first shot. Morlanes , who received his first yellow card for complaining about the incident, was sent off shortly after for a challenge on the Blaugrana number 10 , and before halftime, Muriqi , following a VAR intervention, was shown a straight red card.

In his case, it was for striking Joan García in the face with his foot, who was registered on Saturday morning, like Rashford , and was a starter at Son Moix, even though an injury to his left hand during the warm-up briefly cast doubt on his debut. At the end of the day, just when it seemed the scoreboard would never change, Lamine would put the icing on the cake with the 0-3.

The first half was truly exciting. The Blaugrana took a relatively early lead thanks to a measured long pass from Lamine Yamal, who was incredibly active on the right flank of Barcelona's attack, which Raphinha headed home with ease. With the score at 1-0, Flick 's men stepped up their game a bit more to practically wrap things up as quickly as possible. And it didn't take long for them to do so, with the home side's score at 2-0, which was fiercely contested.

Raíllo, after heading a shot from the Rocafonda star with the apparent intention of clearing the ball, ended up on the ground, apparently knocked out by the impact, but Munuera never stopped the game. As he seemed to explain to Arrasate afterwards, in his opinion the impact was not strong enough to stop the match. Ferran, who ended up with the ball, with the closest Mallorcan players assuming the duel was not in play, sent it practically to the top right corner of Leo Román 's goal.

A very expensive action

The incident would ultimately prove incredibly costly for Mallorca. Morlanes, who received a yellow card for protesting, as did his own manager, would receive another yellow card not long after for a challenge on Lamine, who was advancing dangerously towards the opponent's goal, and was ultimately sent off. And, as if that weren't enough, things would get even more difficult for the home side after Muriqi, initially booked for striking Joan García in the head after the Barça goalkeeper had precisely headed a ball clear from the edge of his own box, also had to head to the locker room early. In this case, at the request of a VAR, which alerted the referee to review the incident with the images captured by the television cameras.

With two men down and two goals behind, Mallorca almost felt even more desperate in extra time when two very similar moves from the young Barça number 10 ultimately went into limbo.

Flick's men came onto the pitch after the break with the intention of controlling the ball as much as possible and, without rushing, perhaps seeking an even more decisive outcome. To do so, Dani Olmo took over from Fermín up front. And, indeed, the player from Egaro soon had a few chances to score. The second, before the first fifteen minutes of the second half had even been completed, was perfectly answered by Leo Román. The home fans, whose team also included Mateo Joseph , Mascarell , and Dani Rodríguez as substitutes, also protested a few excessively forceful actions in defense by Araujo . Perhaps with the intention of forcing the Uruguayan to leave early and thus level the score a little more. There was also a move by Raphinha in which the Brazilian went too far, but which was ultimately punished with a yellow card. Olmo would once again come close to scoring with a shot from the Brazilian's cross that crashed off the post, and the former Leeds player fired wide. After further warnings, one of them from Pedri, it was Lamine, in the twilight, who scored the final 3-0 with a shot that practically went in the top corner.