FC Barcelona crossed the town on Sun. 8th Janury 2012 to play Espanyol at their stadium at Cornella-El Prat in the twice-annual local Derby in la liga. With Real Madrid having beaten Granada 5-1 on Saturday, all eyes were on the Barcelona after ending just 3 points behind their arch-rivals at the end of 2011.
Espanyol came close to scoring the 1st goal in the 1st 10 minutes, only stopped by a great save from Victor Valdes; then the visitors went one goal ahead after quarter of an hour due to a goal from Cesc Fabregas. Dani Alves charged forward with the ball, crossed the ball to Cesc who reached with his head and put it beyond the fingers of Espanyol’s keeper, Alvarez.
But regardless of the early lead, Barcelona was unable to capitalise upon it. The half time break arrived with the match one goal in Barcelona’s favor and when the groups came on thereafter they seemed evenly matched.
It was not until late in the match that Espanyol’s time came after Rodriguez crossed to Thievy who headed the ball forward to Vazquez, who put the ball into the back of Barcelona’s net to equalize.
Barcelona can be good at making last minute comebacks though and in injury time it seemed like precisely that was going to occur. Nonetheless a clear handball from Rodriguez went unpunished by the referee and Barcelona’s chance for a winning penalty evaporated.
After the match Barcelona’s coach Pep Guardiola was asked whether the league was to all intents and purposes over for FC Barcelona this season. He shrugged off the concept, replying that we are nearly half way thru the season and that anything can occur.
It was good to see Andres Iniesta back after a slight injury picked up before the Christmas break, although David Villa is recuperating after breaking his leg in Japan and should be out of action for the foreseeable future.
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