Barcelona stumbled within the Spanish title race with a 1-1 draw towards rivals Espanyol in a bad-tempered Catalan derby on Saturday, levelling Real Madrid on the high of La Liga. Xavi‘s aspect threw away the 2 level benefit that they had earned earlier than the World Cup break, with Joselu‘s penalty pegging Barcelona again after Marcos Alonso‘s opener. Both groups completed with 10 males as Jordi Alba and Vinicius Souza have been despatched off, with referee Mateu Lahoz permitting the sport to spiral uncontrolled at Camp Nou.

The groups have been at loggerheads earlier than a ball as kicked as a result of Barcelona began Robert Lewandowski, who had been banned earlier than a late courtroom ruling allowed him to play.

The ahead, on account of miss three league matches, was solely allowed to play due to a controversial determination introduced on Friday, suspending his punishment.

It tremendously angered Espanyol, whose president and administrators boycotted the match, whereas Barca coach Xavi admitted his crew had ready all week anticipating to be with out the division’s high goalscorer.

The Spanish soccer federation stated in an announcement on Saturday they might not override the courtroom’s determination.

Lewandowski was not at his greatest however Barcelona took the lead after simply seven minutes with Alonso capitalising on shoddy set-piece defending from Espanyol to go house.

The former Chelsea defender, deployed as a centre-back, ought to have doubled his tally however despatched Alba’s cross vast from point-blank vary.

Espanyol’s solely likelihood of the primary half got here when Nico Melamed had a shot deflected vast of Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s far submit.

The guests, sixteenth, struggled to create way more however received a penalty after Alonso tangled with Joselu within the space, and the ahead dispatched it down the center.

Lahoz, racking up the bookings, despatched off Alba for 2 in fast succession, earlier than dismissing each Souza for a foul and Leandro Cabrera for a conflict with Lewandowski seconds later.

However he cancelled the latter dismissal after watching the incident once more with VAR, and Barcelona couldn’t discover a winner within the 9 minutes added on.

Barca coach Xavi additionally obtained a reserving from Lahoz for complaining from the sidelines late on, and the official left the stadium to jeers and whistles from the house followers.

Barcelona and Real Madrid, who beat Real Valladolid on Friday, are each on 38 factors from 15 video games, leaving the title race neck and neck forward of the brand new 12 months.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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