MADRID: Barcelona overcame their Covid chaos to sneak a tight 1-0 victory away at Mallorca in La Liga on Sunday.

Barca were without eight first-team players who had tested positive for Covid last week while a further six were out through injury or suspension.

Those absences gave the rarely-used Luuk de Jong the chance to finally show his worth as a striker since he joined Barca on loan at the end of the summer transfer market as a bargain replacement for Antoine Griezmann.

And a patched-up Barca, with 10 players from their B team, climbed to fifth, just a point behind Atletico Madrid, after De Jong’s header proved the difference over Mallorca.

With all the absentees, the three points are hugely impo­rtant for us,” Coach Xavi Hernandez said. The first objective this season is to be in the Champions Lea­gue places and now we are close.”

Atletico claimed fourth spot after beating the high-flying Rayo Vallecano 2-0 to leapfrog Rayo, with Angel Correa scoring both of Atletico’s goals. Atletico and Barca are still 14 and 15 points behind leaders Real Madrid respectively.

De Jong, who had failed to earn consistent playing time, has been linked with leaving Barca this month but succeeded in providing a potent attacking threat for the visitors flanked by youth players Ferran Jutgla and Ilias Akhomach.

The Dutch striker tapped the ball onto the post moments before he produced a superb bicycle kick that rattled the crossbar. He then headed in his goal when he reached a cross by Oscar Mingueza at the far post just before halftime.

Barca also needed a stunning, reaction save from Marc-Andre ter Stegen, whose right arm denied Jaume Costa from volleying in an equaliser in injury-time.

Atletico had suffered four consecutive defeats in La Liga for the first time ever since Diego Simeone took over the club a decade ago but Correa’s double ensured they bounced back against Rayo, who drop to sixth.

Iago Aspas scored twice to lead Celta Vigo to a 2-0 win at Real Betis, who were left in third place just one point in front of Atletico.

Elche coach Francisco Rodriguez was sent off for repeatedly protesting during his teams 0-0 draw with Granada, while Real Sociedad drew 1-1 at Alaves.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2022