Luuk de Jong saves Barcelona blushes against Espanyol

Barcelona rescue a point in Catalan Derby

For Barcelona, the very beginning and the final moments of the game were their highlights. However, everything in between left much to be desired as Xavi Hernandez’s side only picked up a draw in the derby against Espanyol.

Late substitute Luke de Jong proved to be the hero as he headed in the equalizer in the dying minutes of stoppage time.

Barcelona opened the score in the second minute of the match courtesy of Pedri. The midfielder was on the receiving end of a Jordi Alba cross to the back post. Pedri flicked his foot at it and got it past Diego Lopez.

It was a dream start for Barcelona as they were looking to build on their win against Atletico Madrid.

But Espanyol did not let the early goal deter them. The home team pestered Barcelona throughout the first half, not allowing them to create clear scoring opportunities.

Los Pericos drew level five minutes before the end of the half. Captain Sergi Darder hit an unstoppable strike from outside the area, past a diving Marc-Andre ter Stegen. Despite not creating much themselves, Espanyol tied the game.

As opposed to other matches, Barcelona began the second half strong. The only change made was the departure of Ronald Araujo, who picked up an injury, for Eric Garcia. The forced substitute came back to haunt Barcelona later on.

The Blaugrana thought they had taken the lead thanks to Gavi. But after a VAR review, Pedri’s shot inside the box bounced off Frenkie de Jong who was in an offside position.

Raul de Tomas gave Espanyol the lead in the 64th minute. The Espanyol striker took advantage of a lapse in concentration from Garcia, slipping behind the defender and running down a long ball. He controlled smoothly and rifled one past Ter Stegen.

Chasing the game, Xavi sent on the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ousmane Dembele to try remedy the situation. But neither proved effective with the Gabon striker well covered and the Frenchman unable to get past a solid defense.

With two minutes left in regular time, it seemed like Espanyol were on their way to a historic win against their city rivals. However, enter Luuk de Jong who was a last-ditch effort by Xavi who was in search of the equalizer.

His move paid off as in the 96th minute, Adama Traore sent in a perfect cross from the right to an oncoming De Jong who simply headed the ball into the back of the net and rescuing a point for Barcelona in the process.

The stunned faces of the Espanyol players, and supporters, said it all at the final whistle, knowing they were so close to picking up a win.

As for Barcelona, it was a roller-coaster of a game that almost undid all the good coming off the Atletico Madrid game. They were unable to take advantage of their superiority prior to the equalizer and even with some of the half chances, should have been more clinical.

Defensively, the team is still a mess as was shown with the Garcia mistake. To make matters worse, Gerard Pique was shown a red after getting into a squabble with Nico Melamed. Depending on the status of Araujo, both of Barcelona’s center-backs could be out for the next league match against Valencia.

A draw is better than a loss but Barcelona are going to look at it as two points dropped. They do manage to stay in fourth place, level on points with Atletico Madrid but with a better goal differential.

Things don’t get any easier as before the Valencia clash, they’re back in European action on Thursday when they receive Napoli in the Europe League. With no Dani Alves alongside the possible absence of Araujo, it’s going to be another difficult test. Barcelona are certainly going to have to play better against the Serie A side if they hope to have any chance of winning.