Three takeaways from Espanyol 0-2 Barcelona | La Liga MD18 | OneFootball

Hansi Flick and Co. kicked the new year off to the perfect start at the RCDE Stadium last night, taking home a massive win in the Catalan derby to establish a temporary seven-point gap with Real Madrid.

Up until the 86th minute, the derby fixture was goalless and all signs pointed to the two teams splitting the points. Dani Olmo, however, had other plans and scored a jaw-dropping goal from distance to put the visitors ahead.

Robert Lewandowski soon followed it up with a second goal in the 90th minute, sealing the result and ensuring that Barcelona were out of sight.

The win is significant, not only in terms of starting the new year well but also in terms of momentum for the Supercup, with Hansi Flick, in particular, delighted with the victory.

Barça Universal brings you three talking points from Espanyol 0-2 Barcelona.

The tightest Catalan derby in years

Barcelona and Espanyol have faced off relatively regularly in recent years, barring the period of Espanyol’s relegation, but never has a derby been tighter than it was yesterday.

Manolo Gonzalez’s side has been doing a phenomenal job so far this season, and many expected the outing to be a tricky one for Hansi Flick’s side, and the game turned out exactly as anticipated.

Barcelona may well have had close to 70% of the ball, but it was largely Espanyol who dictated the game-state and tormented the visitors with a structured approach.

A well-deserved victory for Barcelona. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

Their defence was rock-solid, and they intercepted the visitors’ last pass with great efficiency for most of the. Game. They played quickly through the middle, transitioning with rapid pace, and only lacked in terms of clinical finishing.

Espanyol created four big chances to Barcelona’s five at the RCDE Stadium last night, racking up an xG of 1.43, which was only narrowly inferior to Flick’s side’s 1.67. 

In fact, they did not deserve to lose on the night and will feel hard done by dropping points owing to Dani Olmo’s moment of brilliance.

Joan Garcia steals the show

Espanyol did everything right last night except the final touch, but there was as much of a hand of Joan Garcia in denying them the opener as there was on them for poor finishing.

Barcelona’s goalkeeper, who only left Espanyol to join them in the summer, was always going to be in the spotlight at the RCDE Stadium with local fans ambushing him and coming out in large numbers to make their dissatisfaction known.

The atmosphere was hostile against him for the entire 90 minutes with even chants directed against him and objects being hurled on the field. Garcia, however, put all that to bed and spoke through his performance.

What the shot-stopper did last night has simply not been seen at Barcelona for years now as he single-handedly took control of the back and made save after save to deny Espanyol any chance on goal.

In the first half, he cleverly used Gerard Martin to force a rebound save and then made a stunning fingertip deflection to deny Espanyol a sure-shot opener. In the second half, his most notable contribution was the full-length dive in a 1v1 situation to diffuse the threat.

At the end of 90 minutes, the new signing finished with six saves and an xG of 1.73 prevented. All six of his saves came from shots inside the box, and he also completed 100$% of his attempted runs out and made one punched clearance.

Garcia also excelled as a sweeper, coming well off his line to diffuse the threat on numerous occasions, and completed the game with close to 90% passes completed. He was named the man-of-the-match on his return home – and deservedly so.

Substitutes seal the win

Hansi Flick deployed a forward four of Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, and Ferran Torres against the local rivals last night, but three of the four superstars had uncharacteristically poor outings.

Lewandowski back in the goals again. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

While Raphinha never really got going playing as the mediapunta, Torres struggled to get on the end of the ball and into goalscoring positions with poor touches. Rashford, meanwhile, looked confused and disconnected from the team with poor decisions.

Throughout the first half, it was only Yamal pulling the strings for Barcelona and attempting to create chances, both with aerial crosses and through-balls. However, none of the three remaining forwards could craft up anything noteworthy.

The game, eventually, opened up far better when Hansi Flick made wholesale substitutions in the second half.

Fermin Lopez coming on for Rashford already improved the team significantly at half-time, but Dani Olmo and Robert Lewandowski’s introduction for Raphinha and Ferran completely changed the game and it is no surprise that both goals eventually came from them combining.

It was Fermin’s awareness and idea of handing the ball to Olmo in a tight position that helped the team take the lead last night, as the latter struck a stunner from distance into the top corner. A gem of a goal, started and finished by players off the bench.

Once again, it was Fermin who single-handedly created the opening for Barcelona’s second goal through his tenacity. While he could have gone for the shot himself, he found another substitute in Robert Lewandowski to put the ball into the back of the net.