The Catalan derby was accentuated by the arbitration: a dubious penalty and three expulsions (including one corrected by the VAR) featured the performance of the Spanish judge. Despite the tie, the culé team settled at the top of La Liga, with 38 units, like Real Madrid.
the Barcelona returned to La Liga with a 1-1 draw against Espanyol. After a 53-day break from the World Cup, the big blue cast failed to seal an ideal start and became entangled in the Catalan derby. Despite parity against one of their classic rivals, the Xavi-led cast climbed to the top of the Hispanic contest, with 38 points .
Before the initial whistle, as is the trend in the world of football, a tribute was paid to Pelé, the Brazilian star who died on Wednesday, at 82 years old. Footballers, coaches and supporters granted him an emotional minute of silence, which was respected by everyone present at the Camp Nou. At the end of the act, the public who arrived on the scene responded with deafening applause in honor of oh kingwho was honored in most European stadiums.
The culés intended to make a difference from the start, as they hoped to add three to continue top of the table and beat Real Madrid, who beat Valladolid yesterday. Although they quickly got back on track, they failed to hold the advantage and had to settle for the tie.
After 7 minutes they were already dominating at Camp Nou. In football, they say two headers in the box are a goal and here there were three. Raphinha served a superb corner in the Pericos area. Robert Lewandowski won high but missed his performance. The rebound was picked up by Andreas Christensen, who pivoted and set up Marcos Alonso. The winger, today in the demarcation of the central defense, ended up alone and opened the account.
The Barca team continued to dominate the game. Positional play, high pressure and attacks on goal by Álvaro Fernández were a constant. However, they failed to stretch the difference and went to rest.
Development hasn’t changed much on the plugin. Barcelona continued to threaten Team Perico’s goal, especially with one facet in which they became strong: aerial play. Centers from the boards, free kicks and corners were the weapon most used by the culés, but they did not succeed.
The Lahoz show
In 71′, complications would come. Joselú jumped into the culé area and Marcos Alonso unnecessarily touched the striker’s back, which magnified the action. After a childish but dubious foul, Judge Mateu Lahoz scored the maximum sentence. Two minutes later, the same striker would seal the tie with a powerful shot into the center of the goal.
The meeting started to heat up. While Espanyol were comfortable with the result, Barcelona were looking for the reduction with everything. Jordi Alba received two yellow cards within five minutes and would be sent off.
Meanwhile, at minute 80′ a confusing action would come after a foul on Lewandowski. In the same game, Lahoz would determine the expulsion of Vinicius Souza for double yellow and Leandro Cabrera for assault, however, after going to VAR, he would dismiss the latter. An intense endgame was approaching.
at the end, Fernández enlarges his figure. The goalkeeper, who had just played a great match, managed two providential saves which prevented his group from being beaten. The myriad details of the duel resulted in nine minutes off. An eternity for Espanyol, who sometimes had suspicions of wanting to win the game, and perhaps enough to add three to Barcelona. However, they failed in their search.
Anyway, the tie left Barcelona in the lead. The azulgrana have equaled Real Madrid, with 38 units, although they surpass the merengue cast by goal difference . As, Espanyol sit in sixteenth place, with 13 points, only one of which is relegation.
Track to El Deportivo
Source: Latercera
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
