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Barca's title hopes dented by draw

By Daily Sports on March 2, 2018

Lionel Messi's stunning free-kick was not enough for Barcelona as a controversial penalty earned Las Palmas a 1-1 draw on Thursday and threw La Liga's title race wide open.

Barcelona will host Atletico Madrid on Sunday, in a clash of first against second with extra weight, now that the Catalans' lead has been cut to just five points. Atletico thrashed Leganes 4-0 on Wednesday night.

Messi seemed to have set Barca on course to restoring their advantage to seven ahead of this weekend's showdown at the Camp Nou but two decisions from referee Antonio Mateu helped lowly Las Palmas snatch a point.

First, Mateu overlooked a handball from goalkeeper Leandro Chichizola outside the box, which could have drawn a red card, and then he awarded a penalty when the ball struck Lucas Digne on the arm. Former West Ham striker Jonathan Calleri made no mistake.

Barcelona will feel hard done by given Digne's handball looked entirely accidental, with Gerard Pique on the pitch after the final whistle venting his anger at the officials.

But even after Calleri's penalty they had 42 minutes to find a winner and, in truth, created little.

The question now is whether three days is enough for Ernesto Valverde's men to recover, physically and mentally, to face an Atletico team hunting their ninth win on the bounce.

Valverde had lamented the scheduling this week but Luis Suarez started, despite sitting one yellow card away from a suspension, which he successfully avoided.

Barca must improve on Sunday. © AFP

•Photo shows Lionel Messi.

Source Daily Sports

Posted March 2, 2018