Barcelona :A late header from Ronald Araujo’s allowed FC Barcelona salvage a 1-1 draw against Granada at the Camp Nou on Tuesday (September 21).
Domingos Duarte gave Granade the lead with just 88 seconds on the clock when he picked up a stellar cross from Sergio Escudero and powered a header past Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, shocking the hosts.
For the rest of the match, the Catalan side tried looking for an equalizer and a probable winner but with no avail as they could not find their end result and Granada were more than content to sit back and protect their one goal lead.
Searching for goals, Ronald Koeman made two changes as the play resumed for the final half. He brought Luuk de Jong for Sergi Roberto and Gavi for Coutinho. Although, de Jong missed a header from point blank range just before 80 minutes.
Memphis Depay out-swinged a cross towards De Jong in the box but the Dutch striker headed it over the bar. As desperate times approached Koeman introduced Gerard Pique in the center forward role to help look for an equalizer.
With a loss looking inevitable, Gavi took on a loose ball and he deftly chipped it in front of goal where Araujo met the ball and redirected past the Granada goalkeeper, somehow earning a point from the game.
After the match, Koeman said, “They [Granada] wasted time from as soon as they scored. There wasn’t a lot of space to play short, delicate balls as they defended with every man back.”
“There was space on the wings to cross, and we had tall players in there and that’s what we did. At least we managed to get a draw, even if we have dropped two points,” he added.
