Barcelona vs. Malaga: Score and Reaction from 2016 La Liga Match

Barcelona missed the chance to go top of La Liga after being held to a 0-0 draw by Malaga at the Camp Nou on Saturday. Barca were unable to take advantage of the visitors being reduced to 10 men in the second half, when centre-back Diego Llorente, on loan from Real Madrid, received a red card after a foul on Neymar.

Playing without Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, Barca lacked pace and ingenuity in the final third, especially against an inspired Carlos Kameni in the Malaga goal. By the end, Malaga were down to nine men after Juankar was red-carded following a verbal spat with the referee, but Barca still couldn’t break them down.

They’ve now missed the chance to apply pressure on leaders Real ahead of their derby against Atletico Madrid on Saturday evening.

The hosts were weakened considerably from the start, with both Suarez and Messi missing out. Paco Alcacer and Arda Turan came in, according to La Liga’s Twitter account:

Luis Enrique and Juande Ramos have named their starting XIs at the Camp Nou!#BarçaMalaga pic.twitter.com/Qu6Xn2fgT1

— LaLiga (@LaLigaEN) November 19, 2016

BBC Sport’s Andy West detailed why Messi and Suarez missed out:

No Messi (sick). No Suarez (suspended). Malaga decent team. Not easy for Barça today. Not easy at all.

— Andy West (@andywest01) November 19, 2016

Meanwhile, OptaJose spelled out the challenge facing Barca without their two leading lights up front:

0 – Since Luis Suárez made his first La Liga appearance for Barcelona, he and Messi had never missed the same La Liga game. Challenge

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) November 19, 2016

Predictably, the first half proved a struggle for the hosts, who naturally lacked …

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