Espanyol strike late to shock Barca in the Copa del Rey
Oscar Melendo's first goal for Espanyol means that the Catalan side will go into the second leg of their Copa del Rey quarter-final against Barcelona with a slender lead.
Barca went into the game as heavy favourites after defeating their Catalan counterparts 5-0 in La Liga earlier in the season.
However, after fielding a much-changed side, the La Liga pacesetters struggled to create any real chances in the first half, despite dominating the possession.
A series of Messi free kicks failed to test Diego Lopez, though he did have to be alert to push a deflected effort from Sergio Busquets around the post.
When Messi did find some rhythm, driving past men on the edge of the box, his finishing let him down as he fired straight at Lopez from 18 yards.
Gerard Moreno screwed an effort well wide with the hosts’ only shot of the first half after Sergi Roberto failed to clear.
With the first 45 drawing to a close Barca had two chances to break the deadlock, with Paulinho prodding an effort straight at Lopez from Messi’s free Kick, before Denis Suarez dragged the best chance of the half wide of the near post after being played in by Carles Aleña.
With that miss, the two sides went in goalless at the break and that didn’t really look like changing in the opening knockings of the second period.
Naldo did well to prevent Thomas Vermaelen getting a header in on goal, before Messi fired in a volley that Lopez kept out at his near post.
- Penalty drama -
The main drama came just after the hour mark as Sergi Roberto was bundled over in the box by Esteban Granero, with the referee pointing immediately to the spot.
Espanyol were furious with the decision and in their eyes justice was done as Lopez plunged to his left to keep out Messi’s spot-kick.
The hosts grew in confidence from then on and looked the most likely as the game wore on.
Victor Sanchez saw a header from a corner saved by Jasper Cillessen, before Granero forced the Dutchman into a sharp save from a powerful free kick.
The hosts continued to press though and got their goal as Melendo converted Victor Sanchez's pull-back from the right with just two minutes left of normal time to give the hosts a shock victory.
The win means that Espanyol beat their Catalan rivals for the first time since 2007, when Ernesto Valverde was in charge of the 'Periquitos', whilst Barca's 29-game unbeaten run comes crashing to an end.