Barcelona missed a chance to strengthen their top-four standings on the La Liga on Sunday as they were only able to hold Espanyol to a 2-2 draw in their game.

Pedri gave Barcelona an early lead, but Espanyol equalized with six minutes left before halftime through Sergi Darder. Gavi thought he had given Barcelona the lead Eleven minutes after the break, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside.

Raul de Tomas put the hosts into the lead in the 64th minute, but there was drama before the final whistle. First, Gerard Pique and Nico Melamed were both sent off for their second bookable offenses.

Luuk De Jong got the equalizer for Barcelona towards the end of the stoppage time to deny Espanyol their first victory over Barcelona since 2016.

Nevertheless, Espanyol is in 13th with 28 points from 24 games while Barcelona is in the fourth position with 39 points or do they have a game in hand, and they also are four points behind Real Betis in the third position.

Barcelona will now shift their attention to the UEFA Europa League, where they will be playing the knockout round against Italian side Napoli. After that, Xavi’s men will face Valencia next weekend in La Liga.

Manuel veteran defender Raul Albiol has called Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior as a faker after the Yellow submarines held Real Madrid to a 0-0 goalless draw at the Estadio la Ceramica on Saturday.

“I don’t see him coming, and if I had hit him I would make him bleed, for sure, He has collided with my shoulder, if I actually elbow him he will leave the field, for sure,” Albiol said.

Real Madrid now has their points gap at the La Liga table cut to four points after Sevilla’s victory against Elche this weekend.

Written by: Daniel Ademiju Idowu