Espanyol 1 - Barcelona 1

Espanyol: Kameni; Zabaleta, Torrejón, Jarque, Clemente; Valdo (Corominas 64'), Moisés Hurtado, Angel, Riera (Moha 89'); Luis García (Jonathan Soriano 79'), Tamudo. 4-4-2.
Barcelona: Víctor Valdés; Puyol (Zambrotta 70'), Márquez, Milito, Abidal; Xavi, Touré Yayá, Gudjohnsen (Ezquerro 72'); Messi, Bojan (Ronaldinho 64'), Iniesta. 4-3-3.

Team changes: Espanyol: Zabaleta for Lacruz/ Barça: Márquez, Bojan for Zambrotta, Henry.

Goals:
0-1. 06. Iniesta.Turned shot past Kameni on far post after Messi laid ball across.
1-1. 68. Corominas. Got on end of Riera's cross to stab ball wide of Valdés.

Espanyol and Barcelona drew 1-1 in a hard fought derby, which was made all the more interesting by the fact that they started the weekend in fourth and third spots respectively. Relations between the two Barcelona based clubs have not been so good recently, and the two presidents Daniel Sánchez Llibre and Joan Laporta ignored each other as they sat together in the directors' box.

Handbags at six paces aside though, the players got on with the game, and Iniesta gave Frank Rijkaard's side an early lead after a good run by Messi down the right wing. The visitors could have gone further ahead before the break, Messi shooting just wide and Xavi firing a free kick against the bar, Bojan (replacing the out of form Ronaldinho in the starting line up) heading the rebound against the bar on the follow up. And Kameni had to be at his best to keep out Messi again before the half time whistle.

Espanyol's only reply had been a shot from Riera over the top, but Jarque went close with a shot on the turn soon after the restart. Rijkaard finally brought on Ronaldinho, but it was local substitute Corominas who made the difference, getting on the end of Riera's cross to equalise within three minutes of making his appearance.

After that it was up to Kameni to keep the scores level, the local keeper stopping a free kick and a header from Ronaldinho and a late effort from Messi. Valdés also had to be on his toes to keep out an injury time shot from Jonathan, and seconds later it was all over. Sánchez Llibre and Laporta exchanged a brief handshake and that was that. Honours had been shared.