[WATCH] Raphinha and Ferran Torres kickstart Barcelona’s La Liga title defence at Mallorca | OneFootball

Barcelona have secured the perfect start to their La Liga title defence with a 1-0 lead at Mallorca after just seven minutes.

The pre-game focus was centred firmly on a player not included in Hansi Flick’s starting line up in Palma with Marcus Rashford named on the bench for the defending champions.

Rashford’s La Liga registration was signed off just before kick off but Flick opted against throwing him in from the start.

Instead it was two members of Barcelona’s deadly attack from last season who combined to cut Mallorca open early on.

Lamine Yamal carved out an angle from right-hand side and his perfect back post was powered home by Raphinha.

A perfect start for Barcelona and Flick is expected to give Rashford some game time off the bench in the second half to hand the England international a La Liga debut for his new side.

On the back of Raphinha’s superb opener, Ferran Torres netted a controversial second for the visitors, as he grabbed his starting chance ahead of Rashford.

Mallorca defender Antonio Raillo was still down inside the penalty area with a suspected head injury but Torres did not wait around for the referees whistle.

As the Mallorca defenders stopped, expecting a foul to be given in Raillo’s favour, Torres latched onto a loose ball 20 yards out, and smashed into the top corner.

Despite the Mallorca protests, with Manu Morlanes booked for his angry objections, the goal stood and Barcelona are heading towards the half time break with a dominant lead on thee road in Palma.

Barcelona are on course another opening day victory after beating Valencia 2-1 in the 2024/25 campaign kick off during Flick’s first season in charge.

The Catalans have also their last three league meetings with Mallorca since 2023.

Images via Getty Images/One Football