Barcelona Derby Preview

Espanyol had not won for 111 days; practically the entire second half of the season. Barcelona had gone 174 without losing coming into that match at the Camp Nou two years ago. Espanyol had not won there for 27 years. Barça were comfortably in first place, Espanyol in last, separated by 42 points. Never before had the last place in the league defeated the first. As Sid Lowe mentioned in his match report afterwards, the Boxois-Nois were already chanting ¨A Segunda Oé¨, reveling in the fact that their city rivals were heading to Segunda.

It was an impossible situation if any had ever been conjured up, but sometimes in football the most incomprehensible things occur; the littlest player on the field (Ivan de la Pena) comes through with an unlikely header, unmarked and unchallenged, and then he adds to the tally with a monumental gift by Victor Valdez chipping it over the keeper after receiving a wayward clearance from the same character. Bottom beats top, left is right, and suddenly Espanyol were back into the mix, the first step in a long and arduous escape from relegation.

People on the other side of town downplayed the loss; blaming a distracted, sub-par performance on a looming, midweek Champions League match midweek against Lyon. Others like Xavi himself said that the ref took over the game, listened to the protestations of the Espanyol players, pulling out the red card on a clumsy challenge by Seydou Keita, and awarded the “pessimism” of Espanyol to get in the way of the beautiful football that they were “dominating” with. It´s a familiar tone. You hear it quite often after Barça losses. You might hear it again today.

Here are the lineups:

Barça´s is quite obvious, it´s what they´ve been using pretty consistently over the last few weeks so I won´t concentrate that much on them other than the fact that their strengths are well-documented and their weaknesses, like using Mascherano as a pseudo-Central Defender, are well-hid that few clubs have been able to exploit. Can Espanyol?

Well, Ivan de la Pena won´t be playing. That wondrous game was one of his last gasps as an Espanyol player, but after being out for months injured Argentine-Italian striker Pablo Daniel Osvaldo is back on form. He is the key. If he scores, Espanyol have a chance. Luis Garcia and Callejon can bother Barça´s wings, but Joan Verdu won´t be playing in the slot behind Osvaldo. Instead, Mauricio Pochettino has installed the lumbering Iván Alonso for a bit more height just off Osvaldo. Javi Marquez and Javi Lopez can both handle the ball well, but they will be very busy helping a very inexperienced defense cope with the likes of Messi, Villa and the like.

Barcelona look to be having an easy match against their in-city rivals. The stakes aren´t as high as before, the league won´t be won today as some expected, but the chance for bragging rights is. If Barça think they can look ahead, to a midweek match at Levante where they do look to win the league if they get a point today, then they not only might get beat, they will.

Prediction: Barcelona 1-1 Espanyol