An unconventional line-up but three more points for Luis Enrique
Barça visited the Canary Islands with the hope of piling the pressure on Real Madrid - the Catalans squared off against Las Palmas away from home, and there was no margin for error.
A last minute change from Luis Enrique gave Marlon Santos his first start in La Liga alongside Samuel Umtiti in the heart of defence after Javier Mascherano was injured in the warm-up.
Would the Blaugrana finish their penultimate game in La Liga on a high, or would Las Palmas exploit their inexperienced back-line and send the Catalans home disappointed?
First Half:
Kick off.
Barcelona began with some early passes between the unfamiliar back-line of Digne, Marlon, Umtiti and Jordi Alba, with the former PSG man playing on the right in place of the suspended Sergi Roberto.
Two minutes in, Andres Iniesta delivered a defence-slicing through ball for Lionel Messi into the opposition box, but the Argentine was a yard too short.
A beautiful piece of play as Alba found Messi after running through into acres of space. The Argentine however, ran into a wall of defenders and his cross which fell to Suarez at an odd angle, went out for a corner.
Moments later, Jese broke free for Las Palmas on the counter and forced a professional foul from Digne. Despite Jese being through on goal, the referee let him off with just a yellow card.
A spell of possession began for Las Palmas as they began to work their way towards Ter Stegen's goal. Barcelona however, forced an overturn and began applying pressure on the Las Palmas goal in return.
Las Palmas broke into another counter with Jese and Mesa linking up outside the Barça box, only for the resulting cross from the right to fall straight to Sergio Busquets who poked the ball out of danger.
Within minutes, Digne collided with Jonathan Viera as they both duelled for the ball in the air. Watching Digne head into the challenge with his elbow raised, it would have been fair to say that the full-back should have been off the pitch by this point—really lucky.
Twenty-five minutes into the half, Barça broke the deadlock as Suarez latched onto an Iniesta through-ball and squared it to Neymar, who didn't miss from close range—despite having played toe-to-toe with Barça for almost half an hour, Las Palmas just couldn't match Barça's quality.
0-1, Barcelona.
A minute later, Barcelona scored their second as Neymar returned the favour and delivered a beautiful early cross from the wing, to Suarez who was loitering on the shoulders of his compatriot Lemos. Suarez chipped the ball cheekily past the keeper to double Barça's lead.
0-2, Barcelona.
Las Palmas tried countering through Mesa but his shot was straight at Ter Stegen. The Canaries needed to score early, or they stood the chance of tiring themselves out. Despite a couple more half chances, their attempts fell just short of registering a goal.
A great chance fell to Barça as Alba received a Messi-ball to set up Neymar. The Brazilian however was blocked by Lemos and couldn't manage to get a decent touch on the ball.
The referee blew his whistle to end the opening half after a minute of stoppage time, giving Las Palmas plenty to think about as they went back to their dressing room.
Second Half:
Las Palmas kicked off the second half with some early pressure on Barcelona with a high line.
The Catalans absorbed pressure in the hope of countering, and did just that, when Messi played a one-two with Alba before taking a shot from near the penalty spot, only for Lemos to stick his thigh in and deflect the Argentine's shot.
Ten minutes into the second half, Enrique made his first switch of the game, with Andre Gomes making his way onto the field for Digne, who seemed to have a picked up a calf problem.
With the Portuguese in unfamiliar territory at right-back, Barça's defence looked haywire and disorganised once more and Las Palmas breathed some life into their game with a first touch goal for Bigas, who finished from close range.
1-2.
With a little over 20 minutes left, Neymar headed the ball into the Las Palmas goal from a beautifully delivered Rakitic cross.
That seemed like game set and match unless Las Palmas could pull a miracle out of their blue pockets.
1-3, Barcelona.
If there were any doubts about the game, Neymar put them to rest by scoring his third of the game from an absurd angle after an Alba lay-off.
1-4, Barcelona.
Alen Halilovic made his way onto the pitch, hoping to add an attacking dimension to Las Palmas, but with very little time to make a difference, the chances of making an impact were slim for the Croatian.
With 10 minutes on the clock, Barcelona replaced Suarez and Ivan Rakitic with Paco Alcacer and Denis Suarez.
Despite time running out, both teams continued to pressure the opposition hoping to add another goal. However, with only two minutes of stoppage time, the referee blew his three pips to bring an end to the game.
With Barça having done their bit to keep the title challenge alive, the nous falls on Real Madrid to drop points in their upcoming fixtures if Barça want to stand a chance of retaining their league title.
Here's to hoping that by some miracle, Zidane and his men lose at least one of their upcoming fixtures.
Until then, onwards and upwards.
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