Barcelona and Delfín shared the spoils in a Liga Pro encounter that finished 1-1 at the Estadio Monumental Banco Pichincha on Sunday night. We had backed the hosts to win with 59 per cent confidence, but the match took a different turn. By then it was clear the evening would not go to plan.
Danny Luna opened the scoring in the twelfth minute, and here's the thing — Delfín did not look like a side that would simply fold. Tomás Rodríguez found the equaliser fifty-nine minutes in, and suddenly the visitors had something to say. The hosts had been ahead for forty-seven minutes before the balance shifted.
Jefferson Wila came off at the interval alongside Damián Díaz, who also picked up a booking in the forty-fifth minute. Jhonny Quinonez was withdrawn at the hour mark after his own yellow card, and Enzo Alejandro Rubio was sent off in the eighty-second minute. That red card changed everything, or at least the way the end played out.
Barcelona controlled possession at sixty-three per cent and registered four shots on target against three, but the difference in shots tells its own story. The hosts created one big chance while Delfín managed the same, yet the visitors made more of what they had. Three hundred and twelve passes into the opposition half compared to fifty-two into the final third — and still a draw.
The result leaves Barcelona sixth in the table with forty-four points after thirty matches, while Delfín sit fifteenth on twenty-eight. The hosts have not lost away from home in their last three outings, and neither side seemed willing to risk anything in the final stages. By then everyone had seen enough.