Apart from the usual pre-game public banter both Barcelona and Espanyol dish out to their rivals, there was no special hype surrounding the Catalan derby this time around. Still, there is no love lost when it comes to these two neighbours. Espanyol, in general, don’t enjoy trips to the Camp Nou, and this game proved to be no different.
Even though it did take Barcelona quite a while to breach the well-structured Espanyol defence, there was little threat coming from the other side to cause the hosts any real danger or provide the visitors with any hope of claiming the spoils in the Catalan capital.
This tactical analysis will use statistics to determine how yet another clash of the Catalan clubs went in favour of Barcelona and left Espanyol and Rubi wanting a lot more than they got.
Lineups
Barcelona (4-3-3)
Starting XI: Ter Stegen – Semedo, Pique, Lenglet, Alba – Rakitić, Busquets, Arthur – Messi, Suarez, Coutinho
Bench: Iñaki Peña, Umtiti, Vidal, Aleñá, Sergi, Boateng, Malcom
Coach: Ernesto Valverde
Espanyol (5-3-2)
Starting XI: Diego López – Rosales, Lluís López, Naldo, Hermoso, Pedrosa – Melendo, Víctor Sánchez, Marc Roca, Granero – Borja
Bench: Jiménez, Dídac, Javi López, Alfa Semedo, Hernán Pérez, Sergio García, Wu Lei
Coach: Rubi
To read the ful article click here.
