Bottom-placed Espanyol secured a morale-boosting 2-2 draw against a 10-man Barcelona in the Catalan derby of the ongoing season of the La Liga. Barcelona are now level with Real Madrid in terms of points but hold the top spot in the points table, courtesy their better goal difference.
Espanyol started on a positive note at their home venue of RCDE Stadium under their new coach Abelardo Fernandez. The hosts opened the scoring of the night and took a surprising lead in the 23rd minute when David Lopez headed in a Marc Roca free-kick.
The scoreline at the break remained in the favour of Espanyol till Barcelona equalised in the 50th minute as Luis Suarez scored off a delivery from Jordi Alba. The Uruguayan was again on the move when he assisted Arturo Vidal in the 59th minute for Barca’s second.
Touring midfielder Frankie de Jong was sent off in the 75th minute after he received his second yellow card. Barcelona, however, continued to own lion’s share of possession and Espanyol failed to wreak havoc with their pressing. However, the hosts were right on the money as Wu Lei put them on the level in the 88th minute.
Real Madrid, on the other hand, registered a fighting 3-0 victory over Getafe, with goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois producing a heroic performance in the first half at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez Stadium.
Getafe were the better team in the initial moments of the game as they were ferocious on the attack with a midfield wall comprising Faycal Fajr, Nemanja Maksimovic, Mauro Arambarri and Marc Cucurella. However, Courtois stood firm under the woods to frustrate the home team and put all their hard works in vain.
The Belgian international somehow got his hand to Mauro Arambarri’s thunderous strike from the edge of the area before turning aside a Fajr shot and blocking a header by Leandro Cabrera.
But it was Los Blancos who took the lead when Getafe goalkeeper mistakenly allowed the ball in his net while attempting to block a cross from Madrid’s Ferland Mendy. Raphael Varane scored the second one of the night off a free-kick from Toni Kroos eight minutes later, while Luka Modric sealed the match with his stoppage-time goal.
In another match, Atletico Madrid edged past Levante 2-1 to climb to the third position. With 35 points, they stand behind their Madrid neighbour and topper Barcelona. Angel Correa and Felipe Augusto de Almeida Monteiro scored for Atletico, while Roger Marti was on the scoresheet for Levante.
(With inputs from IANS)