La Liga, Barcelona hold Espanyol 2-2: Records broken
Barcelona held Espanyol for a draw in La Liga on Sunday. Xavi's men started the Catalan derby strongly by scoring the first goal of the match in less than five minutes. Barca faded out in the middle, which resulted in Espanyol taking the lead. However, they made a strong comeback to finish the game on a high by netting the equalizer in stoppage time.
Why does this story matter?
Sunday night's La Liga match at Cornella-El Prat was marred with controversies as three red cards were handed in the last ten minutes. Gerard Pique was booked in the 92nd minute. Espanyol were handed two red cards in form of Nicolas Melamed (90'+2') Manuel Morlanes (90'+6'). Riding on the draw, Barcelona moved back into the top four on the La Liga table.
How did the match pan out?
Pedri gave Barcelona an early lead by breaking the deadlock with a second-minute goal. Sergi Darder scored the equalizer for Espanyol in the 40th minute. Darder set up Raul de Tomas (64th minute) for a counter-attacking goal in the second half as Espanyol took a 2-1 lead. Luuk de Jong netted a late header (96th minute) as Barca held Espanyol for a stalemate.
Barcelona and Espanyol's situation in La Liga
Barcelona are currently occupying the fourth and final Champions League spot on the La Liga table. They are level on points (39) with fifth-placed Atletico Madrid. Barcelona have claimed ten victories in 23 games this season while losing four games. Barca have played out nine draws. Espanyol are sitting at the 13th spot on the table with 28 points from 24 games.
Raul de Tomas records this feat
According to Opta, Raul de Tomas has become the fourth player to score against Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Atletico Madrid (on home ground) in the same season in the 21st century. The last player to record this feat was Argentina's Diego Milito in 2006-07. The other two players are - Serbia's Darko Kovacevic (2002-03) and Russia's Valery Karpin (2003/04).
An interesting feat for Barca
According to Opta, Barca have netted the most number of headed goals this season in La Liga (10). It is Barcelona's best tally for headed goals in a single season since 2016-17. However, Barca took 38 games in 2016-17 to record the said feat.
Feat recorded by Darder and Tomas
Tomas and Segi Darder have become the first Espanyol duo to both score and assist in a single La Liga match against Barcelona in the last decade. Raul Tamudo and Luis García registered the same feat in January 2007 for Espanyol, as per Opta.
