Espanyol 2-2 Barcelona Highlights: Luuk de Jong – Espanyol were in touching distance of their first LaLiga win over Barcelona since the 2006-07 season, only to be denied at the death by a Luuk de Jong equaliser in an ill-tempered affair. Pedri put Barca ahead after 74 seconds, but his effort was cancelled out by Sergi Darder. Darder then released Raul de Tomas to fire the home side ahead. It appeared to be enough even after both sides were reduced to 10 men when Gerard Pique and Nicolas Melamed were dismissed. Follow InsideSport.IN for the latest sports news and updates.
Espanyol 2-2 Barcelona Highlights: 10 men Barcelona score 96th-minute equaliser through Luuk de Jong’s header against 10 men Espanyol; Barca stay in fourth place
The game had one final twist when De Jong rose in the box to plant his header past Diego Lopez, while there was time for Miguel Morlanes to earn a red card from the bench. Espanyol have to recover from the late equaliser in a tough test against Sevilla in their next LaLiga match on home soil next week. Barca are next in action in the Europa League at Camp Nou on Thursday against Napoli.
FT #EspanyolBarça 2-2
💥 @LuukdeJong9 saves @FCBarcelona a point right at the death! 😱#LaLigaSantander pic.twitter.com/OXSLrAtwO3
— LaLiga English (@LaLigaEN) February 13, 2022
Espanyol 2-2 Barcelona Highlights: Gerrard Pique shown a red card
The 10 men of Barcelona scored a stunning 96th minute equaliser to rescue a draw and deny Espanyol a rare Catalan derby victory. Scorers: Darder 39′, De Tomás 64′; Pedri 2′, De Jong 90+6′
The Blaugrana got off to the perfect start with just 74 seconds on the clock when Jordi Alba floated a ball into the back post and Pedri was on hand to delicately steer the ball beyond Diego Lopez, making it the quickest goal in this fixture in the 21st century.
Lopez was lively before half-time to stop Adama Traoré’s scorcher from close range and that proved a pivotal stop when, moments later, his side raced up the other end and levelled through a sublime curling strike from Sergi Darder when he found room on the edge of the area.
Espanyol 2-2 Barcelona Highlights: Luuk de Jong scores 96th minute equaliser
But 11 minutes after the break, Barcelona thought they had retaken the lead when the hosts failed to deal with two balls into the area, allowing Gavi to pounce between two challenges and pick up a loose ball before calmly sending the ball high into the net, only for VAR to rule it out for a narrow Frenkie de Jong offside in the build-up.
Typically, the next goal went the way of Los Periquitos as Eric García completely misjudged his defensive line, playing Raúl de Tomás onside from a long ball over the top from Darder and the former Real Madrid man made no mistake from close range.
In injury time both Gerard Piqué and Nico Melamed were issued with red cards in a fracas as things spiralled out of control for Barcelona, who appeared to have lost the derby for the first time in 23 games, only for substitute Luuk de Jong to save the day with a thumping header six minutes into injury-time.
The result isn’t enough for Barcelona to move back into the top four as they stay fifth despite the point, just behind Atlético Madrid in fourth.
Espanyol 2-2 Barcelona Highlights: 10 men Barcelona score 96th-minute equaliser through Luuk de Jong’s header against 10 men Espanyol; Barca stay in fourth place
