Espanyol imposes a draw on Barcelona

Barcelona could not avoid falling into the "Catalonia derby", when his neighbor Espanyol forced him to draw (2-2), in the interest of the 19th round of the Liga.


 Barcelona appeared at an inappropriate level in the first half of the match, as it remained unable to reach the net, while the owners of the land, Club Espanyol, scored the goal by David Lopez in the 23rd minute.


 Espanyol continued to advance from a steady ball until the end of the first half, but Barcelona quickly recovered after the start of the second half, adjusting the result by Luis Suarez in the 50th minute.


 The Chilean player, Arturo Vidal, turned the result in for Barcelona with an unbeaten header in the 58th minute, then the Dutchman de Jong got the second warning in the 75th minute, the first case of dismissal in his professional career.


 Barcelona bore the burden of the "derby" for the remainder of the minutes, with Espanyol insisting that his opponent search for his advantage and take advantage of his numerical superiority after De Yong was sent off, and that he scored by equalizing the Chinese through Wu Li in the 88th minute.


 The result of the tie remained the same until the final whistle, so that the two teams shared the points of the "derby", with Barcelona retaining the lead of La Liga by 40 points, beating rivals Real Madrid, who finished second, by goal difference.