La Liga: Luuk de Jong salvages late draw for Barcelona at Espanyol

Barcelona began and finished strongly on Sunday night however sagged in between and drew 2-2 at less fashionable neighbours Espanyol to stick on to fourth place in La Liga. “We didn’t play brilliantly, but we played well enough to win. The bad news is that we didn’t win,” said Barcelona manager Xavi. Pedri gave Barcelona a second-minute lead, however, Sergi Darder levelled after 40 minutes and set up Raul de Tomas for a counter-attack goal after 64 minutes. With time running out, Luuk de Jong headed an equaliser that saved a point for Barcelona, however they still end the weekend 15 points behind leaders Real Madrid. Both teams started added time down to 10 after Barcelona’s Gerard Pique and Espanyol’s Nicolas Melamed tangled in the 90th minute and collected their second yellow cards.

“In the end we lost more ground,” added Xavi.

“We saved a point at the end, which is insufficient, but we are still in the race for the Champions League.”