Valverde: De Jong's red card did do Barcelona damage Barcelona The coach spoke after the draw

Ernesto Valverde has admitted that Frenkie de Jong's red card damaged Barcelona's chances of hanging on to win the Catalan derby with Espanyol.

The Dutchman was sent off in the 74th minute before Wu Lei equalised late on for the hosts at the RCDE Stadium.

"De Jong's red card did us damage," Valverde admitted to the press.

"We had three chances to kill the game off and we ended up drawing from one chance.

"We more or less controlled the match and we were fine after coming back [from a goal down], with this intention of continuing to score.

"They went forward and we were left with more space.

"It was in our favour and it removed us a bit, the opponent is always going to push at the end.

"They're going to have a [chance], they had that and they converted it."

After Real Madrid beat Getafe earlier on Saturday, Barcelona are now back level on points with Los Blancos at the top of LaLiga Santander.

"It leaves a bad taste because we wanted the three points," Valverde said.

"We went in front and it feels like you've achieved a point if you equalise at the end.

"If you concede a late equaliser, it feels like you lose two points.

"We played a match to try to win.

"It was difficult to break them down, but bit by bit we did it.

"However, we were left with 10 men and they equalised."