Hansi Flick will have some strong words to say after his Barcelona players’ miserable performance in the shock 2-1 home defeat to Las Palmas on Saturday. The Catalan side have picked up just one point from their last three La Liga games, which is a big help in the title race for Real Madrid, who are four points behind with two games remaining.

Relegation contenders Las Palmas made it clear from the start that they would pose a major threat by exploiting Barca’s high defensive line, but missed their early chances and the hosts soon took control of the game. Flick’s team lacked penetration as they managed to get the ball into dangerous spaces but seemed too clumsy to shoot it into the goal.

Their best chance of the first half came in stoppage time when Raphinha was released from the halfway line. He sent the Las Palmas defenders flopping around, but his shot hit the crossbar.

The second half started similarly to the first, only this time Las Palmas were able to make amends for their earlier mistakes by charging forward on the counter-attack before Sandro Ramirez fired past Inaki Pena.

By the 56th minute, Flick had made five substitutions – one of them due to injury – to change the tempo of Barca’s attack, and five minutes later his side were level when Pedri Raphinha played for the Brazilian, who scored from outside the penalty area.

Just when it seemed Barca had the game under control, Las Palmas burst forward when Javi Munoz’s fantastic pass bounced behind the defense for Fabio Silva to run onto and finish. No matter how hard they tried, Barca just couldn’t manage to get their second equaliser.

They came close with a lovely free kick from Raphinha and a shot from Lewandowski in stoppage time, but ex-Barca goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen and the yellow wall in front of him were strong enough to keep them away.

GOAL evaluates Barcelona’s players from Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys…