Madrid: Barcelona mengakhiri tahun yang sukar dengan satu lagi keputusan mengecewakan selepas hanya seri 1-1 di laman sendiri berdepan Eibar awal pagi tadi.
Keputusan itu menyaksikan Barcelona berada di kedudukan keenam dalam La Liga, tujuh mata di belakang Atletico Madrid yang memiliki kurang dua perlawanan.
"Kami perlu realistik. Liga ini sangat rumit. Dalam kehidupan tiada apa yang mustahil, tapi anda perlu melihat jurang mata dengan pasukan seperti Atletico, yang tampak tidak kehilangan mata," kata pengurus Barcelona, Ronald Koeman
Pemenang enam kali Ballon d'Or, Lionel Messi sedang menjalani pemulihan berikutan kecederaan buku lali dan hanya menyaksikan perlawanan dari tempat duduk penonton.
Ketika ketiadaannya, Martin Braithwaite mengambil sepakan penalti pada minit kelapan dan gagal menyempurnakannya.
Pemain kelahiran Denmark itu berjaya memasukkan bola ke dalam jaring pada minit ke-25 namun jaringan itu dibatalkan.
Walaupun Barcelona mendominasi dan melakukan lebih banyak percubaan, Eibar terlebih dulu mendahului permainan pada minit ke-57 menerusi kapten mereka, Kike Garcia hasil kesilapan pertahanan, Ronald Araujo.
Ousmane Dembele menyamakan kedudukan 10 minit kemudian menerusi sepakan kaki kanan namun Barcelona tidak mampu mencari gol kemenangan.
Although Barcelona dominated possession and took far more shots, Eibar took the lead after 57 minutes. Their captain Kike Garcia pounced after a defensive mistake from Ronald Araujo.
"I take responsibility," said Araujo. "I didn't notice that the forward was so close."
"It's a pity, we wanted to win and we played well"
Ousmane Dembele levelled 10 minutes later with a right foot shot but Barcelona could not find the winning goal.
"We were missing Leo, of course," said Koeman, before asking: "How is it possible that we didn't win this match?"
"We created chances, we missed a penalty, and we gave away a goal, the only shot on target they had?"
Barcelona have struggled with injuries this season and lost Philippe Coutinho who limped off in added time.
"He said he was feeling pain in his left knee," said Koeman. "We need to do more tests to find out exactly what's wrong with him."
In the other early game, Lucas Ocampo converted an early penalty and Youssef En-Neyri added a second after the break as Sevilla beat visiting Villarreal 2-0. Sevilla moved onto a tie for third with Real Sociedad and Villarreal.
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