Ten-man Barca held by Cadiz as De Jong and Koeman see red

CADIZ: Barcelona’s stumbling form continued as they were held to a disappointing 0-0 LaLiga draw at Cadiz on Thursday and ended the game with 10 men after Frenkie de Jong was sent off, according to Reuters.

To compound their misery, coach Ronald Koeman was dismissed in the dying seconds for dissent after Sergio Busquets had kicked a second ball that was on the pitch into an opposition player to get the game stopped.

“All I said to the fourth official was that there were two balls on the pitch,” Koeman said.

“They send you off for nothing in this country. I asked the referee in a calm manner, but let’s leave it as it’s not my problem.”

Both sides struggled to create chances in a dull opening period, but the match came alive after the break.

Cadiz striker Alvaro Negredo forced Marc-Andre ter Stegen into a fine stop seconds after the restart, before Barcelona’s Memphis Depay failed to make contact with a Luuk de Jong cross with the goal gaping.

Depay was denied by a smart stop from Jeremias Ledesma as Barca looked to take control of the game, but things went downhill in the 65th minute when midfielder De Jong was shown a second yellow card in four minutes for a lunging tackle, Reuters reported.

Koeman’s side were indebted to Ter Stegen as he denied Salvi Sanchez one-on-one and Ruben Sobrino fired the rebound wide with the goal gaping.

Depay missed a golden opportunity to win it for Barca in the fourth minute of stoppage time following a charge upfield by defender Gerard Pique, but dragged his shot wide and the spoils were shared.

The draw left Barca seventh in the standings with nine points from five games. Cadiz are 14th with six from six.