BARCELONA-ESPANYOL Espanyol forgives Xavi

Xavi is already clear that he has come to suffer. He achieved three points in his debut derby thanks to a penalty goal from Memphis, but Terrassa’s had his first birth on the bench, because Espanyol left the Camp Nou with the feeling of having forgiven Barça. Moreno’s They came out too shy, but when they started to play they undressed Barça, which for now is still on assisted breathing.

For his release as a Barça coach, Xavi made his script very clear already in the line-up. Eight homegrown players, five of them under 22 years old with the LaLiga debut of Ilias Akhomnach, 17.

Barça showed from the outset that they knew music theory, but that they failed to put it into practice. The elaboration of the game was correct and the idea, attractive, but at the time of killing the team fell apart.

The first half hour of Barça caused Espanyol, who already normally play with a low block, had to equip themselves against Diego López. Barça bottled up Vicente Moreno’s team, who strengthened his defense by taking David López to position himself as third center-back, but his determination to build collapsed when it was time to finish.

The lack of tusk punished a dominating Barça that he tried to arrive at the base of his interiors, Nico and De Jong, coming down to help a Memphis that after three minutes already tested the Spanish goalkeeper, but that is not a goal man.

The deployment of Nico and De Jong, along with the impudence of Ilias, who at seven minutes already tried his first shot and had a chance at a quarter of an hour, together with Gavi’s work from Stakhanov with ball and without it, he impressed the parakeet team, which took 35 minutes to look the rival in the eye.

To which Vicente Moreno detected that the flank that Mingueza defended was a bargain for his team and led De Tomás to challenge the Blaugrana, Espanyol showed their teeth. In fact, despite Barcelona’s dominance, the first half ended with the clearest chance of the match up to that moment, which was Blue and White after RDT portrayed the Barcelona side and his design was sent to a corner between Piqué and Ter Stegen.

Before starting the second act, the question remained as to whether Xavi’s effervescent effect was going to have continuity, but that depended on an efficiency that Barça lacks. On the other hand, it was clear that Espanyol had already lost respect for the rival and knew where the waterway was.

Seeking to shake up the attack, Xavi gave entrance to Abde, another that comes out at a thousand revolutions (maybe too many), for Ilias, but the one who shook the game at the restart was the referee who decreed a penalty for a Cabrera tackle to Memphis. The center-back clearly touched the ball with one leg, but with the dragging leg he also touched the Dutchman. Jugada much protested by the parakeets, but that Memphis made it 1-0 from 11 meters. Xavi’s team had scaled a wall that seemed insurmountable.

It was Espanyol’s turn to take a step forward and Moreno put Melamed and Morlanes on the field, with which Espanyol began to play more in the field of Barça, a double-edged sword. Barça had more spaces, but Espanyol, perhaps later, began to dominate. To sleep the game, Xavi played it with Coutinho by retiring Gavi, who until that moment had been the best Blaugrana, but the Brazilian is still more asleep than the team. RDT had two clear chances, one of them a foul to the post, and Dimata missed a sung goal before De Tomás headed back to the post. Barça asked for the time and for dessert, Nico and Mingueza were injured. The final whistle sounded glorious for Xavi.