Barcelona held 1-1 at home against Eibar

Barcelona held 1-1 at home against Eibar
Braithwaite after missing his penalty

FC Barcelona drew against lowly placed Eibar 1-1 at the Camp Nou. Barcelona did not have the services of their talisman Messi, who was on an extended holiday.

Barcelona’s final game of 2020 was a reflection of this entire year for the Catalan giants: wasted chances, wasted talents and bad defending. Barcelona played well, but missed chances and a terrible mistake at the back cost them two big points at home.

Messi was unavailable for the fixture

Lionel Messi in the stands

Barca had the chance to take the lead inside of 15 minutes after VAR awarded them a penalty, but Martin Braithwaite skewed his spot kick wide of the goal and match remained scoreless.

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The hosts dominated possession, but it was Eibar that had the better of the chances. Ter Stegen made two solid saves to keep the scoreline at 0-0 going into half-time.

Ronald Koeman brought on Dembele at the cusp of half time to inject pace into the Barcelona attack.

However, a defensive lapse from Araujo cost them dearly. The defender gave the ball away at the half line which was gleefully welcomed by Kike Garcia. He went through on goal and scored in the 57th minute to give the lead to the away team.

Koeman made two more changes with Philippe Coutinho and Francisco Trincão coming on, and the two immediately created a beautiful move down the left that found Firpo all alone and the full-back’s cross gave Dembélé a tap-in and Barça were back in business with 25 minutes to go.

Barcelona players celebrate after scoring

Barcelona continued to build pressure on the Eibar goal, but Eibar defended resolutely to keep the score at 1-1. Riqui Puig was brought on in the dying moments of the match to find the missing spark in attack.

Trincao came closest to goal in the 90th minute, but failed to keep his shot on target. Barcelona are yet to find their consistency in the league and are 6th in the La Liga table. They are seven points behind co-leaders Atletico and Real Madrid, who both have 32.

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