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Barca surrender lead to drop 2 poinnts at home to Deportivo

Xinhua, December 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

FC Barcelona surrendered a 2-goal lead and dropped two vital points as they drew 2-2 at home to Deportivo la Coruna on Saturday afternoon.

   Barca had led through Leo Messi and Ivan Rakitic with just under half an hour remaining, but lost concentration to allow their rivals to score twice in the last 15 minutes.

   Luis Enrique had warned about the need to not relax ahead of his side's trip to Japan to play in the World Club Championship and picked virtually his strongest side available with the presence of Sandro Rodriguez for the fit-again Serio Roberto, perhaps the only surprise.

   Deportivo travelled to Barca with just one defeat away from home all season and should have taken the lead early in the game when Jonathans Rodriguez's touch just allowed Claudio Bravo to come out and make a brave save.

   The game soon returned to a familiar pattern with Barca controlling the ball close to the Deportivo penalty area, trying to use the full width of the pitch to work shooting chances.

   Luis Suarez was his usual busy self, with Leo Messi working in a deeper role on the right and fullbacks Dani Alves and Jordi Alba pushing forward all of the time.

   Suarez volleyed wide following an Sandro knockdown and Messi saw a free kick comfortably saved by German Lux, but for the most part Barca failed to turn possession into clear cut chances.  

   Messi who finally opened the scoring 6 minutes from halftime with another free kick which he curled the ball over the defensive wall and into the back of the net for his fifth league goal of the campaign.

   The second half kicked off with Rodriguez failing to hit the target with a couple of chances as Barca began with some sloppy passes, but Ivan Rakitic appeared to seal the win with a powerful shot from 25 yards after being given too much to pick his spot.

   Lucas Perez saw a goal ruled out for offside with 15 minutes remaining, but got Deportivo back into the game a minute later when the striker scored his sixth goal in six games after getting the better of the recently introduced Jeremy Mathieu.

   That assured a nervy last 15 minutes in the Camp Nou as Deportivo, led by the impressive Miguel Cardoso, looked for the equalizer and got their reward when Alex Bergantinos scored a curling shot after being gifted the ball by Sergio Busquets.  Endi