After a tense buildup to the Catalan derby, Espanyol came close to repeating their Copa del Rey heroics until a late intervention
They were seven minutes away when Gerard Piqué appeared before them, a finger on his lips in the rain. “It was symbolic,” he said, and he made sure of that. Espanyol, the only team to have beaten Barcelona in almost six months, were leading again. For the second time in 18 days Barcelona had taken the short bus ride to the RCDE Stadium and, for the second time in 18 days, they were losing 1-0. After Barcelona’s defeat to Espanyol in the Copa del Rey, Gerard Moreno’s header left them on the verge of a league loss after 21 matches and almost six months, to deny a new record. The water level was rising and the clock was ticking: 80, 81, 82, 83. And that was when Piqué reached the ball, sent it past Diego López and in.
Leo Messi had come off the bench for the final half hour, and it was his delivery that had made it. When the ball hit the net, Ernesto Valverde became the manager with the best unbeaten run in Barcelona’s league history, the record clinched at the place where he has a gate named in his honour and his portrait hangs on the wall. Philippe Coutinho was back at the ground where he once played, and he thumped the best shot of the afternoon against the bar, but it had to be Piqué. As his header went in, he turned towards the Espanyol fans and gestured for silence. So they started shouting again.
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Real Sociedad 5-0 Deportivo La Coruña, Eibar 5-1 Sevilla, Real Betis 2-1 Villarreal, Alavés 2-1 Celta Vigo, Levante 2-2 Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid 1-0 Valencia, Girona 2-0 Athletic Bilbao, Espanyol 1-1 Barcelona, Getafe 0-0 Leganés
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