Bearing a congested fixture list in mind, Xavi took one look at his side’s past results against Mallorca and decided that Tuesday’s trip to the Iberostar Stadium was the perfect time to rest some of his key players.
Spotting an opportunity to capitalise, Aguirre’s side came racing out of the blocks and took a shock lead, as a poacher’s finish from Vedat Muriqi punished Marc-André ter Stegen’s slack pass, and notched the hosts’ first competitive goal at home since early June.
It took a disjointed Barça almost 40 minutes to register their first shot on target, but that flicker of promise was all they needed for the shackles to come off, as moments later, Raphinha darted inside from the right flank and fired low into the bottom corner from distance - a moment of eye-catching quality that Mallorca were powerless to prevent.
And in the short time remaining before the interval, a flurry of activity saw the Brazilian fire a one-on-one chance over the bar, before Prats flipped the script again to meet Muriqi’s flick-on and poke the Pirates back in front.
With a lead to protect, Mallorca trudged on in the knowledge that Barcelona had the quality to hurt them at any given moment. That was hammered home shortly into the second half, when João Félix left Rajković rooted to the spot with an audacious shot from distance which cannoned off the post.
Xavi was forced to introduce the big guns with half an hour to play - namely Robert Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal - but it was the comparatively unknown Fermín López who had the last word, latching onto Raphinha’s cut-back and tidily dispatching his first goal for the La Blaugrana.
Although Mallorca were denied the win, a memorable night saw them end Barça’s six-game winning streak and edge up to 15th in La Liga. The Catalan giants, meanwhile, will be desperate to rediscover their devastating streak ahead of tasty upcoming clashes with Sevilla and FC Porto.
