Barcelona drew with their hosts Espanyol 1/1 during the match that brought them together today, Saturday, in the fifteenth round of the Spanish football championship.
Barcelona advanced with a goal scored by Marcos Alonso in the seventh minute, and Espanyol equalized with a goal scored by Joselo in the 73rd minute from a penalty kick.
The match saw Jordi Alba, the Barcelona player, receive a red card in the 78th minute, and Vinicius Sousa, the Espanyol player, receive a red card in the 80th minute.
Barcelona raised their lead to 38 points at the top of the table, on goal difference against Real Madrid, and Espanyol raised their lead to 13 points in sixteenth place.
The start of the game got to a mediocre level, and Barcelona quickly imposed control over the course of the game in pursuit of scoring the progress goal, on the other hand, the Espanyol team retreated to midfield and is entrusted to the launch of counter-attacks.
And there was no time to take the pulse, as Barcelona almost opened the scoring in the sixth minute when he played a long ball to Pablo Martin Paez inside the Espanyol penalty area, where he met with a shot at the moment he fell onto the field, but Alvaro Fernandez, the goalkeeper of Espanyol, converted it into a corner kick.
To play the corner kick in the seventh minute in Espanyol’s penalty area, Andreas Christensen headed in to Marcos Alonso, who responded with a powerful header to send his ball into the net.
Barcelona continued to control the course of the match, and their attacking attempts continued in pursuit of a second goal, indeed, Barcelona came close to doubling their lead in the 18th minute when a corner kick was taken in the penalty area , but no one managed to tackle it, reaching Jordi Alba on the right side to play a cross. Of average height, Alonso met her with a shot from the six yard box, but his ball went over the left post.
As time went on, Espanyol began to get into the attacking match atmosphere, and Barcelona exchanged attacks in search of an adjustment of the result, but the two teams could not form any goal threat in the match. ‘ other, so that the game was limited to the center of the field.
And the game was confined to midfield until the 33rd minute, which saw a dangerous chance for Espanyol when Nico Ribaudo struck a powerful ball that hit one of the Barcelona defenders and went out for a corner kick which it has not been used.
Barcelona responded in the 38th minute, when Rafinha hit a powerful ball, which Fernandez narrowly converted for a corner that went unused.
The remaining time of the first half passed without news before the referee blew the final whistle, with Barcelona advancing 1-0.
As the second half began, Barcelona stepped up their attacking attempts in pursuit of scoring a second goal they believed in their progress, while Espanyol retreated into midfield and relied on launching counter-attacks.
Barcelona nearly scored their second goal in the 55th minute when Marcos Alonso cleared a cross from the right, Robert Lewandowski stepped onto it and met it with a header, but his ball went near the left post.
Barcelona continued to dominate the course of the game but failed to pose any real threat to Espanyol’s goal, whose players retreated to the center of the stadium and relied on launching counter-attacks whenever they had the chance the opportunity, so that the game was limited to the center of the field.
The match was confined to midfield until the 71st minute, when the referee awarded a penalty after Marcos Alonso made a strong challenge on Joselo inside the penalty area.
Joselo successfully hit the penalty kick in the 73rd minute, scoring the equalizer.
In the 78th minute, Jordi Alba received a red card and Vinicius Souza, the Espanyol player, received a red card in the 80th minute.
Barcelona stepped up their attacking efforts in pursuit of the winning goal, while the Espanyol players retreated into midfield to preserve the score.
Barcelona almost scored the second goal in the 87th minute when the ball was played into the penalty area, Christensen met it with a strong header, but Fernandez converted it with his fingertips into a kick corner that has not been used.
In the 88th minute, Lewandowski missed his chance to score the second when he received a through ball inside the penalty area, to tackle goalkeeper Fernandez, before hitting a powerful ball which Fernandez saved twice.
Barcelona’s attacking attempts continued to score a second goal, but failed, so the referee blew the final whistle, dictating a 1/1 draw between the two teams.
