Wu Lei strikes late as Espanyol and Barcelona draw in Catalan derby
Chinese striker Wu Lei scored a late goal to earn Espanyol a 2-2 draw with Barcelona in an entertaining affair in the Catalan derby.
Barcelona were trying to move back to the top of La Liga after Real Madrid beat Getafe 3-0 earlier in the day, but they were down 1-0 inside of 25 minutes when David Lopez's glancing header from a free kick left Neto frozen footed in the visitor's goal.
Ernesto Valverde's side grew into the game as the half wore on with Lionel Messi heading right at Espanyol keeper Diego Lopez and Luis Suarez hitting the post soon after as Barcelona went into the break trailing.
Ivan Rakitic made way for Arturo Vidal at half-time and Barca got back on level terms five minutes after the restart when Suarez beat Lopez at the near post with a first-time shot from Jordi Alba's perfect ball into the penalty area.
Suarez then turned provider, crossing with the outside of his foot for Vidal to head home at the back post and put Barcelona in front 2-1.
Frenkie de Jong picked up a pair of yellow cards in just under 10 minutes and was sent off with a quarter of an hour to play, leaving Barcelona to finish the match shorthanded.
The booking would cost Barcelona as substitute Lei picked up a nice through ball from MatÃas Vargas, took one look at the goal and blasted a first-time shot past Neto to tie it up.
The point was enough to put Barca back in first in La Liga, but only on goal differential ahead of Real Madrid, while bottom-side Espanyol cut their deficit to fellow relegation strugglers Leganes and Celta Vigo.
Source: espn.co.uk
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