Barcelona's title hopes suffer a jolt after Las Palmas draw

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Bengaluru, March 2: Jonathan Calleri saved Las Palmas the blushes as they held formidable Barcelona 1-1 in a thrilling La Liga tie.

Lionel Messi fired Barca ahead in the 21st minute with a thunderous free-kick into the top corner but third-bottom Palmas pulled themselves back into the game with a penalty by Calleri three minutes into the second half.

The draw at relegation-fighting Palmas was an unexpected jolt for the title aspirants as as it left the Catalan giants with just a five-point lead in La Liga ahead of their top-of-the-table showdown with Atletico Madrid this weekend.

Match stats | Points table

The Argentinian forward sidefooted the spot kick into the top corner after stand-in defender Lucas Digne was judged to have handled the ball after it hit the post, the first time Barca have given away a spot kick in the league for over two years.

Barca had little fortune with refereeing decisions and their players and coach Ernesto Valverde were furious when Palmas goalkeeper Leandro Chichizola was not punished for appearing to handle the ball outside of the area.

Barca have 66 points and lead the table from Atletico, who visit the Camp Nou on Sunday having won their last eight games in all competitions. Barca have drawn four of their last eight. Third-placed Real Madrid have 51 points with Valencia on 50.

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Valverde told reporters he still did not know if the penalty had been given for Digne's handball or a foul and the usually pragmatic coach could not hide his despair at the decision.

"The penalty came as a shock to us because of how it was awarded. We felt that they equalised with an'invisible' penalty, they grew stronger after that and we played in too much of a hurry," the agitated Valverde said.

"We really wanted to leave here with three points. In the first half we felt we were always creating danger and their players kept on picking up yellow cards. We went ahead in the first half but it was not a big enough margin."

Palmas coach Paco Jemez snapped a miserable run of eight consecutive defeats to Barca from when he was in charge of Rayo Vallecano and said his team were slowly but surely finding their feet in their fight against the drop.

"Right now we sure are playing like a team, we're able to help each other out and keep fighting until the last minute," he said."We're still not creating as many chances as we are capable of but I'm seeing signs of progress.

"Taking a point against Barca gives us more belief than if it was any old point," he added.

(With Agency inputs)