Barcelona : Goals from Barcelona’s latest teenage talents weren’t enough to save Xavi Hernández’s side from another letdown Sunday after a late strike gave Osasuna a 2-2 draw in the Spanish league.
Barcelona was leading 2-1 after 19-year-olds Nico González and Abde Ezzalzouli scored their first goals since joining the team from the club’s youth squads this season, reports AP.
Nico received a pass from Gavi Páez, a player two years his junior, to put Barcelona ahead in the 12th minute at El Sadar Stadium. Osasuna’s David García leveled with a header two minutes later.
Abde swept in a cross from Ousmane Dembelé in the 49th.
But substitute Chimy Ávila pulled Osasuna level with four minutes to go with a long-range strike that went in after touching Samuel Umtiti, who played his first minutes this season for Barcelona as a surprise inclusion in Xavi’s starting lineup.
Nico, Abde and Gavi form part of a group of young players, along with the injured Pedri González, which is providing the only bright side to a dismal campaign for Barcelona.
“Luckily we have our young players because they are holding the team up.
They are making an extraordinary effort,” Xavi said. “We have to keep growing, but it is going to be difficult to get out of this rut. We need a favorable result. We had this victory and let it get away.”
Barcelona has only won once on the road in the league this season, following the exit of Lionel Messi.
Barcelona is in eighth place, 15 points behind leader Real Madrid which hosts defending champion Atlético Madrid later Sunday.
The draw at Osasuna came after back-to-back defeats for Barcelona. It had lost 1-0 at home to Real Betis in the league before falling 3-0 at Bayern Munich to exit the Champions League at the group phase for the first time in 17 years.
