Espanyol 0-1 Barcelona: Neymar draws the decisive penalty

Posted by: neydmin Posted date: March 30, 2014 In: Neymar news | comment : 0

Full-time: Espanyol 0-1 Barcelona
Goals: Lionel Messi (76′)
Match date: March 29, 2014
Stadium: Cornellà-El Prat
Competition: La Liga
Barcelona line-up: Valdés, Jordi Alba, Mascherano, Piqué, Daniel Alves, Busquets, Xavi, Fabregas, Neymar, Lionel Messi, Pedro.

It has been a really tough game that Barcelona were forced to go through this Saturday afternoon, as they visited Espanyol‘s ground for the condal city’s league derby. With a very important game against Atletico Madrid scheduled for next Tuesday, Tato Martino didn’t seem to have bothered much to rotate his key players and played one of his strongest line-ups possible. Iniesta has probably been the only exception, as he was left on the bench until the second half’s mid point.

The derby was threatening to finish with a goalless draw, but it all changed around the 75th minute of the game, when Daniel Alves sent in a cross that bounced inside Espanyol box and that Neymar seems to have controlled with half of his shoulder and half of his arm. With his touch, the Brazil international pulled the ball back and saw it immediately getting blocked by Espanyol‘s right-back, Javi López. The referee didn’t hesitate much and pointed to the penalty mark right before showing the yellow card to the hosts’ defender.

Naturally, it was Lionel Messi stepping up to the mark and taking all the responsibility. The Argentina international didn’t tremble and hammered it into the back of the net, delivering Barça 3 precious points that allow them to keep very close to Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid on the top of the league. Next Tuesday, we’ll have an intense Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid at the Camp Nou, for the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals first leg. However and before that, there’s a Liverpool vs Tottenham in England that no one will want to miss. Brendan Rodger‘s men will have to win if they still want to keep their championship hopes alive.