Barça continues unleashed and beats Espanyol

Barcelona adds and continues. The team led by Hansi Flick beat Espanyol 3-1 this Sunday in a match marked by the fight that the Blaugranas displayed in the first half. The culés went into the break with three goals behind thanks to goals from Raphinha and Dani Olmo on two occasions and they let themselves go in a second half in which the parakeets closed the gap through Puado. With this victory, Barça is now nine points behind Madrid, although with one more game, and adds the overwhelming number of eleven wins in the first twelve days of the League.

It was a strange game, but Barcelona this year knows how to adapt to the environment like no one else. It was a strange day because Spain still has its heart in its mouth, because, things of life, Espanyol visited Montjuïc to play a derby and because the culés had a lot to celebrate. Aitana Bonmatí got her Ballon d’Or, Lamine Yamal the Kopa Trophy and immediately afterwards an avalanche was unleashed against Joan García’s goal. And the Blaugranas were not distracted and jumped onto the grass with the idea of ​​taking advantage of the wave and resolving the issue as soon as possible.

Flick contributed to the cause with an eleven in which only Koundé rested from the starting theorists and with an approach that overwhelmed the citizen rival. Barça pressed in the opposite field, suffocated the parakeets and the chances began to arrive one after another. Lamine Yamal and Dani Olmo warned with shots from outside the area and the goal came almost by inertia after the former RB Leipzig player, very participative at the start, completed a sensational pass with the outside of the brand new Kopa Trophy.

It was the beginning of an ordeal for Espanyol. Manolo González’s men had no choice but to give up meters and see how the blows began to arrive from all sides. The Casadó – Pedri duo became omnipresent. Every ball that the Canarian touches improves the game, while the youth player shows a new record every day that makes it more difficult to see his ceiling. He runs like the best, steals balls, is intense, leads and even encourages himself with passes typical of a playmaker. He did it twice against Bayern and Madrid and repeated it with a new gift to Raphinha, who scored the second goal against Joan García with Vaseline. Espanyol had not gotten up when the Barça pressure bore fruit and Dani Olmo, who has a goal in his veins, scored the third from the edge of the area before going to the locker room.

After the restart, Barça continued to subdue Espanyol. The culés widened the field with Lamine Yamal and Balde and knew how to create spaces for players like Dani Olmo, Raphinha or even Pedri, who dropped off for many minutes, to appear in the three-quarter zone. Despite this, Flick’s team lost momentum and the German, not a fan of ups and downs, took the opportunity to introduce Frenkie de Jong and Fermín López. The Dutchman positioned himself in the double pivot, a position that he will have to get used to, and from there he saw how the Blaugranas became unbalanced and gave air to Manolo González’s men. Var annulled a goal by Tejero for offside, Iñaki Peña resolved a one-on-one match against Puado and finally the blue and white attacker pulled out his thorn after a lateral cross that closed the gap.

Flick screamed from the sideline and his team was unable to regain control of the game. Puado scored Espanyol’s third disallowed goal and every ball into space was a threat to a Barça defense that, despite everything, remained faithful to the offside trap. Koundé entered to gain freshness in the defensive setback and the culés achieved balance to reach the final whistle smoothly. Flick’s team went from better to less, but they put pressure on a Real Madrid that, with one game less, is already nine points behind the leader.