Espanyol 2 – Barca 2: Victory beyond reach for Budgerigars at Rcde Stadium

On Sunday, Espanyol and Barca were held to a 2-2 draw at Rcde Stadium. Espanyol arrived at the game looking pick up points after losing 2-1 to Athletic Bilbao in their last match whilst Barca were coming from consecutive wins against Atletico Madrid and Alaves. After today’s result, Espanyol are in 13th place on the table and has 28 points while Barca sit in 4th with 39 points after 24 matches.

Barca started strong and were rewarded for their efforts, with an early goal from Pedri in the 2nd minute. However, their lead was short lived, as Sergi Darder equalised for Budgerigars just before half-time, to take a 1-1 lead into half time.

Espanyol took the initiative in the second half, thanks to Raul De Tomas finding the net, 64 minutes in. In the end though, their celebrations were kept brief, as Luuk De Jong equalised for Los Blaugranas just before the final whistle, leaving the final score at 2-2.

For Espanyol, Nicolas Melamed Ribaudo, Manu Morlanes, Fran Merida and Fernando Calero, came on for Tonny Vilhena, Keidi Bare, Manu Morlanes and Aleix Vidal. Barca replaced Eric Garcia, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Nicolas Gonzalez, Ousmane Dembele and Luuk De Jong with Ronald Araujo, Frenkie De Jong, Gavi, Jordi Alba and Pedri.

Espanyol and Barca played a tough game where the referee sanctioned Espanyol with yellow cards to Keidi Bare, Tonny Vilhena, Javi Puado and Nicolas Melamed Ribaudo and with red card to Nicolas Melamed Ribaudo, while from Barca Gerard Pique, Eric Garcia and Nicolas Gonzalez were booked and red to Gerard Pique (2 yellow cards).

Espanyol will next play Seville at home, with Barca facing Valencia away.