Las Palmas 1-2 Barcelona: Ilkay Gundogan’s injury-time penalty sees Barca snatch comeback win to boost La Liga title bid

Ilkay Gundogan’s injury-time penalty stole victory for an uninspired Barcelona that were outplayed by Las Palmas for much of their return to La Liga action – but ultimately closed the gap to Real Madrid and Girona to seven points.

Barcelona were second-best in the first half and deservedly fell behind when Munir El Haddadi beat Inaki Pena to a 50-50 ball and turned it into the net, with Las Palmas almost doubling their lead when Sandro hit the post after 40 minutes.

However, Xavi’s team talk and personnel changes had the desired effect, as Barcelona emerged from half-time looking more focused and clinical against their tiring hosts.

Ferran Torres’ equaliser just 10 minutes into the second half had more than a hint of good fortune about it but had seemed inevitable, before Gundogan made the most of a push in the penalty area to earn the spot-kick that ultimately proved the difference.

New €40m signing Vitor Roque made his debut from the bench replacing a below-par Robert Lewandowski, but Xavi was handed another headache early on when Joao Cancelo departed with a knee injury.

Roque did miss one glaring opportunity late on, squandering a three-on-one chance after Gundogan’s penalty by almost overrunning Joao Felix’s pass to miss the target. But the 18-year-old got stuck in quickly and showed more in 10 minutes than Robert Lewandowski did in 80.

The Pole spent as much time remonstrating with his team-mates as he did challenging the opposition defence, barely impacting the game.

His cheek did lead to Torres’ opening goal though, as the ball hammered into Lewandowski’s face and dropped straight to Sergi Roberto, who fed Torres for a neat finish past goalkeeper Alvaro Valles.

Still, Las Palmas had as many clear-cut opportunities as the visitors as the clock ran down, and Barcelona looked set to stay nine points behind Real Madrid and Girona before Gundogan picked himself up off the deck to slot home a crucial penalty.

The German has kept his best for big moments this season – this his third goal after netting against Real Madrid and Girona – but for Barcelona to be celebrating this injury-time win against a newly-promoted side was telling in itself.

Barcelona showed cracks at both ends of the pitch against Las Palmas, and might well continue claiming Christmas holiday pay for a first half where they were outfought and out-played by the hosts.

Goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen isn’t set to recover from his back injury until February, and that can’t come soon enough for Xavi.

The ocean around the Canary Islands extends down to 4,000 metres and that’s about how far Inaki Pena looked out of his depth in the first half.

He should never have allowed Munir to pounce on Sandro’s low cross to put his side ahead, and then appeared to haunted by that for the rest of the game, flapping at several half-saves that easily could’ve put his side even further behind.

Cancelo’s replacement Andreas Christensen was also caught napping early for the opener, with Sandro the star of the first half for either side.

However, Barcelona do deserve credit for fighting back in a tough away atmosphere, their midfield bossed the second half and Gundogan, Frenkie De Jong and Sergi Roberto’s efforts deserved to be rewarded with a goal. Now the question is: can they pick up where they left off tonight?

This wasn’t a game overflowing with candidates, but Ferran Torres exemplified Barcelona’s change in attitude either side of half-time.

Promoted to the starting line-up by Xavi, Torres was virtually absent early on and looked on the verge of not even seeing the second half as Joao Felix was seemingly nearly ready to come on. But he eventually rewarded his manager’s faith with a brilliantly-taken finish to equalise.

Torres received the ball in a crowded penalty area and effectively had no room to lift his foot for a proper shot, instead driving it so quickly that Valles was taken surprise and could only get a fingertip to it.

He kept pushing for the winner too, and his determination to drive the team forward stood in stark contrast to Lewandowski.

Las Palmas: Valles, Suarez 7, Coco 8, Marmol 8, S Cardona 7, Munoz 8, Perrone 7, Rodriguez 7, Munir 7, Sandro 8, Moleiro 7. Subs: M Cardona 6, Loiodice 6, Pejino 7, Sinkgraven 1.

Barcelona: Pena 4, Cancelo 6, Araujo 7, Kounde 5, Balde 6, De Jong 7, Gundogan 6, Roberto 7, Raphinha 6, Lewandowski 4, Torres 8. Subs: Christensen 5, Yamal 6, Felix 7, Roque 7, Lopez 7.

12’ – GOAL! LAS PALMAS 1-0 BARCELONA (MUNIR): The two ex-Barcelona players combine to put the hosts ahead! They’ve been the better team so far and cut an apparently organised Barca defence apart with just two passes – Sandro was fed in a surprising amount of space on the right wing before he produced the perfectly curled low cross for Munir to pounce on, Pena should’ve closed it down but the Moroccan was just hungrier. Game on!

22’ – ALMOST 2-0! Sandro beat Kounde all ends up after swapping wings, and a quick one-two with Alberto Moleiro put him through on goal. He slid at full stretch to reach the ball before Pena and won a corner, but the Islanders can’t capitalise.

32’ – GOLDEN CHANCE! Frenkie de Jong lifted an inch-perfect pass to Sergi Roberto peeling off the last defender and he controlled it sublimely, but then attempted to square it to Lewandowski rather than take on the shot himself and Las Palmas scramble it to safety.

39’ – MUNIR IN AGAIN: A quicker player could’ve scored there. Barcelona are again dispossessed in midfield and Kiran Rodriguez smartly pushes the ball for Munir to chase. He’s not quick speedy enough though, and his first touch isn’t great either meaning Las Palmas must settle for a corner. Sandro is at it again from the set piece, he takes the ball on the edge of the area and fires an arcing shot that just flies past a beaten Pena’s left-hand post. That was inches away from greatness…

55’ – GOAL! LAS PALMAS 1-1 BARCELONA (TORRES): Barcelona have better this half and their effort is finally rewarded. There’s more than a hint of luck about it, a Las Palmas clearance hit Lewandowski in the head and fell to Sergi Roberto in the penalty area, who shuffled in to Ferran Torres and the forward produced a smart finish past Valles who had played well tonight and still got a hand to it.

90+1’ – PENALTY! BARCELONA HAVE BEEN SAVED! Felix loosed a stinging shot that Valles could only palm out, with Gundogan rushing in at the back post. The ball was probably too high for him to reach but he leaps to the ground acrobatically under pressure from Sinkgraven and buys the penalty. The German will take the spot-kick too…

90+3’ – GOAL! LAS PALMAS 1-2 BARCELONA (GUNDOGAN): Perfect from Gundogan, heartbreak for Las Palmas. He hit it low and Valles went the wrong way, the crowd don’t like it but that’s surely game over.

This match was the 15th consecutive game that Las Palmas haven’t failed to beat Barcelona.

Barcelona were caught offside 14 times by an aggressively high home defensive line.