Enrique rues losing lead late against Deportivo

Barcelona end with 2-2 draw despite Messi’s strike and assist

Barcelona missed a chance to temporarily increase their Spanish league lead when they conceded two late goals and drew with Deportivo La Coruna 2-2 at home on Saturday.

Lionel Messi opened the scoring with a curling free kick before half-time, and set up Ivan Rakitic’s powerful strike from outside the area after an hour. Then Deportivo striker Lucas Perez scored, and set up the equaliser by Alex Bergantinos after a late counter-attack to shock the crowd at the Camp Nou.

The result extended Barcelona’s winless streak to three matches, and gave rivals Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid precious chance to make up ground in the 15th round.

Three- point advantage

Barcelona have a three-point lead over Atletico Madrid, who play against Athletic Bilbao. Real Madrid, who play at fifth-place Villarreal, were five points behind Barcelona. Deportivo, unbeaten in six games and with only one away loss this season, were sixth.

“We had everything under control until the 30-minute mark of the second half,” Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said. “Deportivo had a brave strategy, and it worked out for them. It isn’t the result that we deserved but it shows that we have to be plugged in for all 90 minutes.”

It was Barcelona’s last game before travelling to Japan for the Club World Cup. Their semifinal will be on Thursday against either America of Mexico or Guangzhou Evergrande of China.