Connect with us

News

Late Espanyol equaliser denies 10-man Barcelona derby win

Published

on

luis suarez

La Liga champions, Barcelona were held to a 2-2 draw by Espanyol in a thrilling derby on Saturday night, which ended with an 88th-minute equaliser by Wu Lei.

The China international had caused so many problems since coming on as a substitute. He latched onto a Matias Vargas pass before guiding a perfect shot past goalkeeper Neto from about 10 yards out.

The hosts, who were playing their first game under new manager Abelardo, opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, with defender David Lopez scoring with a header.

Barcelona were trailing at halftime, but levelled on 50 minutes when Jordi Alba crossed from the left as Luis Suarez, who had a lot of space, poked the ball past goalkeeper Diego Lopez.

Read Also: Courtois shines, Varane nets double as Real Madrid thrash Getafe

The champions went ahead for the first time in the game just about nine minutes after when substitute Arturo Vidal scored the second.

Suarez had pounced onto a loose ball in the penalty area before lifting a perfect cross to Vidal, who powered home a header from eight yards out.

Dutch youngster De Jong was shown a red card in the 75th minute when he tried win back a possession he gave away and got a second booking.

Barca thought they had all three points but a late Wu Lei goal secured a late point for the hosts, but the result was enough to see Barca back to the top of the table above Real Madrid, who thrashed Getafe earlier on Saturday.

Barca’s unbeaten run against Espanyol in La Liga extended to 21 games.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now