The Barcelona-Espanyol that went from the lock to Del Cerro

Heroes who did not want. How many laps will it take In the eyes to what could be the goal of his life, that header that he tried so hard to get away from Ter Stegen that ended up sending the ball out when the 1-1 was his. A question almost more esoteric than precision was another head, that of Raúl de Tomás, which crashed shortly after on the stick. They cursed their bad luck the players of the Spanish and all the fans in general, Barcelona celebrated the victory at the premiere of Xavi more by desire, by hope than by the facts. The parrots deserved more.

A penalty Xavi style. Perhaps he could not yet capture his stamp as a coach, but surely the triumph with which the Egarense coach debuted did show the ways in which the derby that most marked his rivalry as a player with Espanyol was resolved. A penalty, on December 2009, Baena about Xavi himself, and last night of Cabrera in view of Memphis, which generate immediate doubts. That unleash the controversy. Especially now that there is WHERE. And that the three points decay in favor of the Barcelona. What undid that historical equality in the table was not a play, but From Cerro Grande.

The blackboard and the bolt. To proposals, and even the penalty that changed everything, it could be said that Xavi and Vicente Moreno, even that the Espanyol coach was winning on points, capable of deactivating Barça’s offensive game by embedding David Lopez, a priori pivot, in a line of three centrals. Drawing a 5-4-1 that closed the gates from the inside, which disabled the bands except for some incursion of Jordi Alba, which left out of the game the unchecks to the Memphis space, De Jong O Nico…

RdT against the world. The great burden of the Numantine defense Perica, with ten players often after the ball, was in turn the main virtue of the Barça: a fierce pressure at the exit of the ball, which began 80 meters from Ter Stegen, and the consequent difficulty of progressing. And even so, the clearest chance until the goal that unbalanced the derby had been Espanyol. Raúl de Tomás, who mocked Mingueza -He would repeat after the break- and almost got the own goal of Pique, falling to the left wing, something that fate’s whims had invented for him Luis Enrique in his recent debut with the Selection, in view of Greece. Could not chain RdT his sixth day marking, but he gave moments of recital, only against the world, which justified his great moment.

The atmosphere of yesteryear. From the football satellites, this derby seemed from another time. Until Jordi Pujol he occupied a seat in the front row of the box. The managers had a cordial lunch in the center of Barcelona, ​​a couple of streets from where Espanyol was founded, and both the departure of the parakeet coach from their hotel and the arrival of the Barça convoy to the Camp Nou they were accompanied by chants, flares, by the crowd. The derby is back, but not after 500 days but after a few years of troubles and abysmal distances. And he has done it to stay.