An iffy penalty call saw Barcelona stutter to a 1-1 draw against lowly Las Palmas in La Liga on Thursday evening, though the game was graced by a truly lovely freekick from Lionel Messi.
After coming in for some rough treatment from the home side on the edge of the box with 20 minutes played, Messi dusted himself off and sent a fine set-piece the ‘wrong way’ across the wall and goalkeeper and into the far top corner…
And if you think that was sweet, just wait until you see if from the reverse angle…
Unfortunately, Barca’s lead only lasted until a few minutes into the second half when the Catalans conceded their first penalty in a La Liga tie for over two years (since 14th February, 2016, to be exact – some 78 matches ago).
The decision was as soft as you like, but Jonathan Calleri didn’t wait around to debate it, hoofing the resulting spot-kick into Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s top left-hand corner.
And with that, Barca stay five points clear at the summit while Las Palmas remain in 18th place, skulking just below the dotted line o’ doom.