Barcelona suffer surprise home defeat to Malaga in La Liga

Barcelona missed out on the chance to go top of La Liga as they suffered a surprise 1-0 home defeat to Malaga.

The Catalans were looking for their 12th win in a row in all competitions but fell behind in the seventh minute when Juanmi capitalised on Dani Alves’ error to score.

Barca dominated possession but rarely tested Carlos Kameni as they struggled to break down a resilient Malaga.

The result leaves Barca a point behind Real Madrid, who go to Elche on Sunday, and Luis Enrique’s side must now regroup for their Champions League last-16 clash with Manchester City in midweek.

They made a sluggish start at the Nou Camp and fell behind when Kameni booted the ball downfield and Alves tried to play it back first time to Claudio Bravo.

But his pass was short and Juanmi raced onto the loose ball to go round Bravo and knock into an empty net.

Barcelona, who made seven changes from their 5-0 win over Levante last weekend, nearly produced the ideal response but Rafinha’s shot was blocked on the line by Weligton.

Possession continued to be dominated by Barcelona but they created few clear chances. From one, midfielder Andres Iniesta could only nod straight at Kameni, while Jordi Alba and Gerard Pique headed over the bar.

Barcelona were also careless at the back, allowing Samu Castillejo to backheel the ball to Juanmi inside the area, but Bravo made an unorthodox save to deny the youngster a second goal.

Malaga continued to look dangerous on the break while Barca were caught offside a number of times as they struggled to make any impact in the final third.

Their best opportunity came seven minutes from the end when Pedro found space down the right side of the area but smashed into the side-netting.

Luis Suarez and Pique also saw efforts saved by Kameni in injury-time as Malaga held on for victory.

Sky sports

Maher Taki