Substitute Luc de Jong scored a header in the 96th minute to snatch Barcelona’s 2-2 draw with city rivals Espanyol in the Spanish Football League on Sunday.
The Catalan derby witnessed great tension on both sides, as the referee had to send off a player from each team in the last minutes, in addition to 7 warnings, including 4 for Espanyol.
And seconds before the referee ended the match, Espanyol seemed to be on its way to achieving its first league victory over Barcelona in 16 years, before De Jong converted Adama Traore’s cross pass into the net in the sixth minute of the spare time following coming off the field as a substitute for Pedro, with only 7 minutes.
Luke de Jong refuses to hand the derby to Espanyol #La Liga #Barcelona_Espanol pic.twitter.com/dnrE14urFK
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) February 13, 2022
With this result, coach Xavi Hernandez’s team returned to fourth place, the last qualifying place for the European Champions League, equal with Atlético Madrid with 39 points.
And it seemed that Barcelona would face an easy match when they advanced two minutes later through Pedri, who converted Jordi Alba’s cross into the net from close range.
Ferran Torres and Traore came close to scoring for Barcelona, before Serge Darder equalized in the last minute of the first half with a shot from the edge of the penalty area following a good game from Raul de Tomas.
Darder responded with a pass to De Thomas for the second goal that seemed to give Espanyol the three points.
Matters ignited in the last minutes and both Gerard Pique and Nico Melamed were sent off following they competed for a common ball before De Jong’s late goal came in a tie.
✖️ Jordi Alba takes the role of defense instead of scoring once morest Espanyol#La Liga pic.twitter.com/mug8EOCdCP
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) February 13, 2022
