Barcelona 1-0 Espanyol: A City Against Itself

In the changing room, players prepared, putting on uniforms, cleats, shin guards, and tape, and going through their routines, superstitions, and prayers. Then began the walk up to Futbol Club Barcelona’s elevated field: through a small passageway lined with Catalan paintings, down a tunnel, past the cathedral then on to the pitch. To the left, the Barça museum which displays, among others, paintings by Dali and Joan Miró. Outside the front gate, a Donald Judd-like piece of minimalist sculpture. Above, a roof designed by a disciple of Le Corbusier. But this self-conscious sophistication doesn’t amount to much when Espanyol comes to the Camp Nou because this was a derby – two teams from the same city playing each other – and current standings be damned, anything is possible when the other team from Barcelona, the Periquitos, come to play in their white and blues.

On paper, Saturday’s derby should have been a rout with Barcelona easily dominating their as-of-late hapless inter-city rivals. Going into the game Espanyol had 13 points. Barcelona had 36. Perhaps even more telling, Espanyol, which was a scant 3 points above the relegation zone, had scored fewer goals than top-of-the-table Barcelona had allowed, an indication of just how toothless Espanyol’s offense has been this season.

But forget all that. This was a derby. This was a derby with one hundred years of history and Espanyol, La Liga’s sixth most successful team, was the very same team that defeated Barcelona in 2008 and then delighted in watching them subsequently flail to a clattering third place finish. This is the team that gave Barcelona a similar fright last year when Iván de la Peña,“The Little Buddha,” put two in the back of the net, one of which nearly unhinged Victor Valdes’ goalkeeping mind and made him a question for the rest of the season. Forget the statistics and the league table. Finishing at the bottom would be bitter for a team with Espanyol’s pride but the bitterness would taste like their wine if they defeat Barcelona.

Article Author: Earl G. Lundquist

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