Barcelona forfeited the chance to pull clear of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga after they were held to a 1-1 home draw by their local rivals Espanyol on Saturday, in a bad-tempered clash in which both sides were reduced to 10 men.
Barca went ahead in the seventh minute through a Marcos Alonso header before Espanyol pegged them back through a Joselu penalty in the 73rd minute.
The game then descended into farce as referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz sent off Jordi Alba and the Espanyol pair of Vinicius Souza and Leandro Cabrera in quick succession amid a flurry of cards — before rescinding Cabrera’s red after a VAR review.
Tempers flared after the equaliser, with Barcelona’s Jordi Alba sent off after receiving back-to-back yellow cards for loud protests against the referee, before Espanyol’s Vinícius Souza was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Robert Lewandowski minutes later.
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