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With Lionel Messi guarding his ankle in the stands, Barcelona lagged further behind in the Spanish league on Tuesday after giving up their first point to Eibar at the Camp Nou.
Half-time substitute Ousmane Dembele saved Barcelona with a 1-1 draw when he scored in the 67th minute. That canceled Kike García’s first game 10 minutes earlier after a ball control error by center-back Ronald Araújo.
A second straight draw at home meant Ronald Koeman’s team slipped to sixth place after Sevilla moved to fourth place with a 2-0 win over Villarreal, who fell to fifth place.
Favorites Atlético de Madrid and Real Madrid have a seven-point lead over Barcelona before playing Wednesday’s games.
“Realistically, the league title is very complicated. Nothing is impossible, but we must acknowledge the gap, ”Koeman said. “We miss Leo, who is always decisive, but the feeling I have is ‘how come we don’t win?’ We created chances, missed a penalty and gave away a goal that was his only shot on goal ”.
Messi was forced to watch the game in a winter coat with the reserves due to an unspecified problem in his right ankle. Not reported to be serious.
With Ansu Fati and Gerard Piqué gone due to serious injuries, Barcelona also lost midfielder Philippe Coutinho in the final minutes with what appeared to be a left knee injury.
ERRORS IN ATTACK AND DEFENSE
Barça player Martin Braithwaite had two chances to overtake the hosts in the first half, but the Danish forward sent a deflected penalty in the 9th minute and had to disallow a goal for offside in the 25th.
Otherwise, intense pressure from Eibar kept Barcelona out of their area and helped give the visitors an advantage.
García took advantage of a careless dribble by Araújo to steal the ball well outside the area with only Marc-Andre ter Stegen to beat. García had time and space to measure the Barcelona goalkeeper and beat him with a low shot.
“We cannot make mistakes like the one I made,” said Araújo. “I take responsibility for it. But all we can do is keep working. “
Dembélé continued at halftime for his first appearance since missing five games due to a thigh injury. He replaced Sergiño Dest and proved to be Barcelona’s best option in a mediocre attack without Messi.
Dembélé got a good save from Eibar goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic thanks to a pass from Pedro “Pedri” González before drawing Barcelona.
The French forward scored with a pass from Junior Firpo, who played well on an unusual start ahead of Jordi Alba. Firpo made two quick passing combinations with his teammates to free himself down the flank before sending a low ball to the far post where Dembélé shot it on goal.
Barcelona, however, did not seriously threaten Dmitrovic again.
It is the first point that Eibar takes at the Camp Nou after losing their six previous visits.
“Of course they missed Messi. It is the best of all time. Most of the times we play against Barcelona, they score three out of four, ”Garcia said. “But we knew we would have our chances. We hung on until halftime and then we scared them. Our pressure allowed us to win a point at the Camp Nou ”.
SEVILLA ELEVATOR CAPS
Lucas Ocampos converted a penalty and set another goal to help Sevilla deal Villarreal their first loss in 13 rounds.
Ocampos scored his penalty in the eighth after John Foyth handled a ball into the area. The Argentine forward then gained possession and threw a long pass forward to help Youssef En-Nesyri seal the score in the 53rd.
OTHER RESULTS
José Morales scored two goals in Levante’s 4-3 win over Real Betis.
Betis scored two goals from Sergio Canales in his first game since recovering from a muscle injury that left him on the sidelines for seven games.
Valladolid drew 1-1 at Cádiz, which have not won in four games since surprising Barcelona earlier this month.
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