Barcelona draw with Espanyol

A late strike from Wu Lei helped Espanyol hold city rivals and 10-men Barcelona to a 2-2 draw in the latest installment of the Barcelona derby on Saturday night at Espanyol's RCDE Stadium.

David Lopez had the home side dreaming in the first half with a 1-0 lead, but Luis Suarez would rise up and in a span of nine second half minutes he scored the equaliser before contributing an assist on Arturo Vidal's go-ahead goal.

However, a Frenkie de Jong sending off was the lifeline the Pericos needed and Wu Lei sent the home fans into delirium with his late equaliser for a share of the spoils.

Fresh from the winter break, coach Ernesto Valverde opted for MSG in attack, while Sergi Roberto was restored to the right-back position and the little-used Neto filled in for injured incumbent Marc-Andre ter Stegen in goal.

In typical Barcelona derby fashion, it was hard-fought from the start and the Pericos put the home supporters on their feet when a Marc Roca freekick was swung in and David Lopez met it with a header that beat Neto for a 1-0 lead.
It took a while, but Barcelona finally started to work their way into it.

A good solo effort from Suarez stung the post before a counter led by Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann saw the former's shot deflected wide.

Valverde did not hesitate to make a change at half time, as Vidal came on for the ineffective Ivan Rakitic, but it was Suarez who took the match by the scruff of the neck and made the biggest difference.

It started with an inch-perfect pass from Jordi Alba that the running Suarez artfully redirected into net on the fly at the near post to make it 1-1.

Valverde hustled to make a defensive switch, yanking off Griezmann for Nelson Semedo, but Espanyol were growing with confidence and, with just minutes to go, Wu Lei fired in an impeccable strike from the right edge to level things at 2-2, which held until the full time whistle.

 

Dhaka/Mahi/Mukul