Barcelona tied with its guest Espanyol 1/1 during the match that brought them together today, Saturday, in the fifteenth round of the Spanish Football League.
Barcelona advanced with a goal scored by Marcos Alonso in the seventh minute, and Espanyol tied through a goal scored by Joselo in the 73rd minute from a penalty kick.
The match saw Jordi Alba, the Barcelona player, get a red card in the 78th minute, and Vinicius Sousa, the Espanyol player, got a red card in the 80th minute.
Barcelona raised its score to 38 points at the top of the standings, on goal difference against Real Madrid, and Espanyol raised its score to 13 points in the sixteenth place.
The start of the match came at a mediocre level, and Barcelona quickly imposed control over the course of the match in search of scoring the goal of progress, on the other hand, the Espanyol team retreated to its midfield and relied on launching counter-attacks.
And there was no period for feeling the pulse, as Barcelona almost opened the scoring in the sixth minute when it played a long ball to Pablo Martin Paez inside the Espanyol penalty area, where he met it with a shot the moment he fell on the field, but Alvaro Fernandez, the goalkeeper of Espanyol, turned it into a corner kick.
To play the corner kick in the seventh minute into the Espanyol penalty area, Andreas Christensen headed it to Marcos Alonso, who met it with a powerful header to hug his ball into the net.
Barcelona continued to control the course of the match, and its offensive attempts continued in search of scoring a second goal. Indeed, Barcelona was close to scoring the second goal in the 18th minute when a corner kick was played into the penalty area, but no one was able to meet it, reaching Jordi Alba on the right side to play a cross. Medium height, Alonso met her with a shot from the six-yard area, but his ball went past the left post.
With the passage of time, the Espanyol team began to enter into the atmosphere of the offensive match, and Barcelona exchanged attacks in search of an adjustment to the result. However, the two teams failed to form any threat to the other’s goal, so that the play was limited to the middle of the field.
And the play remained confined to the midfield until the 33rd minute came, which saw a dangerous opportunity for Espanyol when Nico Ribaudo hit a powerful ball that hit one of Barcelona’s defenders and went out for a corner kick that was not used.
Barcelona responded in the 38th minute, when Rafinha hit a powerful ball, which Fernandez narrowly converted for a corner kick that was not used.
The remaining time of the first half passed without anything new before the referee blew the final whistle, with Barcelona advancing 1-0.
With the start of the second half, Barcelona intensified its offensive attempts in search of scoring a second goal in which it believed in its progress, while Espanyol retreated to its midfield and relied on launching counter-attacks.
Barcelona almost scored the second goal in the 55th minute when Marcos Alonso passed a cross from the right side, Robert Lewandowski rose to it and met it with a header, but his ball passed next to the left post.
Barcelona continued to dominate the course of the match, but failed to pose any real danger to the Espanyol goal, whose players retreated to the center of their stadium and relied on launching counter-attacks whenever they had the opportunity, so that the play was limited to the middle of the field.
The game remained confined to the midfield until the 71st minute, which saw the referee award a penalty kick after Marcos Alonso intervened forcefully on Joselo inside the penalty area.
Joselo hit the penalty kick in the 73rd minute successfully, scoring the equalizing goal.
In the 78th minute, Jordi Alba got a red card, and Vinicius Souza, the Espanyol player, got a red card in the 80th minute.
Barcelona intensified its offensive attempts in search of scoring the winning goal, while the Espanyol players retreated to their 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 turned it with his fingertips into a corner kick that was not used.
In the 88th minute, Lewandowski missed the opportunity to score the second goal when he received a through pass inside the penalty area, to face goalkeeper Fernandez, before hitting a powerful ball that Fernandez saved twice.
Barcelona’s offensive attempts continued to score a second goal, but failed to do so, so the referee blew the final whistle, imposing a 1/1 tie between the two teams.