U12 team fall in last 16 of LaLiga Promises

Today, football was cruel to FC Barcelona's Under-12 team.

The Blaugrana youngsters fell to RCD Espanyol, 2–1, in the last 16 of the Laliga Promises, held at Villarreal's training centre in Castellón, Spain.

The Catalans, thus, say goodbye to the tournament despite being one of the best teams there, as evidenced by their impeccable track record this season and their impressive play in the group stage, which took place on Friday.

But a pair of defensive errors cost them big time, and the tournament format, with games consisting of two 12-minute halves, has Barça looking uncomfortable out on the pitch.

The quarter-finals look like this: Celtic v Sporting, Atletico Madrid v Espanyol, Villarreal v Betis, and Real Madrid v Malaga.

FC Barcelona, instead of being there as well, are making their way back home after Espanyol sat back and waited before pouncing when they needed to.

After a scoreless first half, Espanyol opened the scoring in the 14th minute, when Mark Sorroche found the net on a counterattack.

Marcos Jurado had a chance to draw Barça level with a header from on a corner kick, but Espanyol goalkeeper Oriol made the save.

Espanyol took advantage of a defensive error by Barça to make it 2–0, leaving Barça in a high-pressure situation with little time remaining.

Barça's Aleix Garrido pulled one back, but it was too little, too late.