Espanyol v. FC Barcelona (2-2): Pedri Goal, Araujo Injured, & LDJ Saves 1 Point After Garcia Blunder

The Barca Breakdown discussed the chaotic Catalan Derby draw! With Dani Alves out with a red card in the Atletico Madrid game, we saw the same line up but with Dest in the back right. Barca opened the game in the 2' minute with a cross from Alba and Pedri scoring with one touch. As the game progressed, Barca slowly began to allow many opportunities and shots from Espanyol. This resulted in a goal from Darder to end the first half. The second half began with Araujo on the bench due to an injury incurred in the first half which had Eric Garcia make his first appearance in a month. With Busquets not able to uphold a top tier performance through the second half, Barca began on the defense. An extremely awful decision by Erica Garcia kept De Tomas on side, Ter Stegen was left one on one with De Tomas. De Tomas smashed the ball past Stegen Taking Espanyol up, 2-1. Xavi chose to put Dembele, Aubameyang, Traore, and Ferran Torres in the front line late in the game. This was pretty questionable because he took out FDJ and left the poor performing Busquests in the game. The mid field wasn't able to push the ball down the middle very well and relied on the wings to cross the ball in. Xavi chose to put in LDJ late in the game. I t proved the equalizer when Traore crossed the ball and LDJ headed it in. Overall a very concerning performance and Xavi needs to improve on his decision making. This leaves us tied in 4th with Atletico Madrid and looking forward to NApoli midweek and Valencia after. Although, Barca will possibly missing Araujo against Napoli and Pique, due to a red card for Valencia.