FC Barcelona dropped points in their last LaLiga match of the year after drawing 1-1 against Espanyol in the Catalan derby on Saturday afternoon.
Barca started Sergi Roberto in place of Alejandro Balde and Robert Lewandowski was cleared to play by the after getting suspended against CA Osasuna.
The deadlocked was broken on seven minutes by the host after Marcos Alonso got space at the near post and headed in a cutback from Andreas Christensen following a well-taken corner-kick.
Lewandowski looked to make it two six minutes later with a low header from another pin-point corner, but goalkeeper Alvaro Fernandez gathered on this occasion.
Espanyol showed up after the half-hour mark where possession turnover from Ansu Fati resulted in a long pass to Nico Melamed to control and come inside before he had his curling strike deflected away.
The Blaugrana made a promising opening to the resumption courtesy of a move on the edge of the area by Sergi Roberto and Frenkie De Jong, but neither managed to make it count.
With Sergio Busquets on for Gavi a few minutes later, the host closed in again after Lewandowski guided a looping free-kick from Roberto wide of the mark.
Barcelona were unable to add to their lead and the visitors pulled level when Joselu fired in from the penalty spot as he had won the spot-kick off Alonso's foul.
Tensions looked to boil over granted the Catalan derby as Jordi Alba got a red card for dissent towards the match official in the final 12 minutes.
However, Espanyol were also reduced to ten players minutes later in Vinicius Souza following a poor challenge on Gavi and overturned a red on Leandro Cabrera after a pitch-side review.
A telling stop by Fernandez minutes to full-time steered a thumping header from Christensen following a corner while he also denied Lewandowski in a lengthy stoppage time too, as the encounter ended all square.
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