Numancia 1 - Barcelona 1

Numancia: Alvaro Nuñez; Manel (Rosu 60'), Antía, Soria, Octavio; Iñaki, Nagore, Pacheta, José Manuel; Rubén Navarro (Marini 84'), Iván Pérez (Ojeda 46'). 4-4-2.
Barcelona: Reina; Gabri (Gerard 68'), Frank De Boer, Abelardo, Cocu; Guardiola (Xavi 75'), Petit; Luis Enrique, Rivaldo, Overmars (Dani 75'); Kluivert. 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Numancia: Manel, Octavio, José Manuel, Iván Pérez for Jaume, Clavero, Caco Morán, Ojeda / Barcelona: Petit, Luis Enrique for Sergi, Zenden.

Goals:
0-1. 31. Kluivert. Intercepted bad back pass by Manel to chip over keeper.
1-1. 63. Rubén Navarro. Took pass from Iñaki to shoot wide of Reina.

Barcelona missed out on a good opportunity to catch up with the leaders after failing to take their scoring chances against lowly Numancia. Their record at the Pajaritos ground is not good, having drawn the only two matches played there in their history, but they needed a victory to make up ground on Real Madrid, Deportivo and Valencia, all of whom lost. With Sergi injured Serra Ferrer was short of a left back, and Petit came in to the side, with the versatile Cocu moving back as he did on Thursday night against Celta in their UEFA cup quarter final. García Remón brought back three of his players who are on loan from Deportivo after they were forced to miss the last game against their old employer for contractual reasons, with Iván Pérez lining up against his brother Alfonso, who was on the Barcelona bench. Unfortunately though they did not get a chance to meet on the field of play, with Iván being substituted by Ojeda after half time and Alfonso not even getting on.

Referee Pérez Burrull forced Barcelona to change their shorts due to a clash of colours, and after they refused to wear Numancia's change colour white (Real Madrid's colours remember), the only option was a bright red which clashed horrendously with their grey shirts. Probably out of embarrassment Barcelona decided to attack right from the start, and they set up a number of chances early on which they failed to put away. Guardiola hit a post with a well struck free kick, and Nuñez somehow kept out Luis Enrique's shot after previously saving from Rivaldo with a quarter of an hour gone. Eventually though it took a defensive error to let them in, Kluivert intercepting Manel's loose back pass to advance on goal and chip the ball over Nuñez.

The second half was a different story though as the Barcelona players tired after their long battle on Thursday night. Guardiola disappeared completely, and with Ojeda and then Rosu adding fresh ideas the home side came back, running rings round Gabri and Petit down the two wings. Gabri cleared off the line from Rubén Navarro with Reina beaten, and then the young Catalan forward got his just reward, beating the keeper with a low shot to level the scores. Serra Ferrer made his three changes as the game calmed down again, and in the end both sides had to settle for an unsatisfactory point each. Barcelona are now only a point above Mallorca, and having only recorded one win now in their last six league games their Champions League spot is in serious danger. Numancia keep their heads above water for now, holding on to seventeenth place two points above Real Sociedad, but with realistically four clubs contending for the three relegation spots they are in big trouble. It doesn't help that they go on to play Real Madrid next week.