LaLiga: Espanyol 2-2 Barcelona
LaLiga: Espanyol 2-2 Barcelona

Espanyol and Barcelona come into the 214th Catalan derby in LaLiga Santander in contrasting form, as Vicente Moreno's side is yet to win in 2022 while Xavi Hernandez's charges have built up some momentum in recent weeks.

Iran PressEurope: Luuk De Jong denied Espanyol their first La Liga win over Barcelona since 2009 with a late header to rescue a point at the RCDE Stadium.

The game had gotten off to a bad start for Los Periquitos as Barcelona silenced the home crowd within a couple of minutes, as Pedri connected with Jordi Alba's cross from the left to fire the ball in from a few yards out.

However, just before half-time, Sergi Darder curled in a fantastic effort from inside the area beyond a stretched Marc-Andre ter Stegen to equalize for Espanyol.

Xavi's side then had a goal disallowed as Gavi's finish beyond Diego Lopez was ruled out as the ball took a deflection off Frenkie de Jong in the build-up, who was in an offside position.

Raul de Tomas then put the hosts ahead in the 64th minute, chesting down Darder's clipped through-ball, before finishing beautifully past ter Stegen.

That goal looked to have secured a momentous win for Espanyol before De Jong's late show secured a draw for Barcelona with the last kick of the game to break the hearts of the home supporters.

The draw came as a relief for Barcelona but halted its good run after consecutive league victories against Alavés and defending champion Atlético Madrid.

The result was enough to move the Catalan club past Atlético and back into fourth place in the final Champions League spot. It is 15 points behind league leader Real Madrid with a game in hand following Madrid's 0-0 draw at Villarreal on Saturday

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