Espanyol 0-2 Barcelona: Hansi Flick’s side start new year with vital win and move seven points clear at the summit
A plucky and passionate display by Espanyol at the RCDE Stadium threatened Barcelona with a muted start to the new year, but late goals from Dani Olmo and Robert Lewandowski secured victory over their local rivals and pushed them seven points clear at the top of La Liga, just when it seemed like the Catalan derby was headed for a stalemate.
After a disappointing 2024-25 when they narrowly escaped relegation, finishing just two points above the drop zone, Espanyol are having the best season. They are currently fifth with practically half the campaign played, and the visit of Barcelona to the RCDE Stadium was a chance to repay some old grudges.
Espanyol have not beaten Barcelona in the league since 2009, and La Blaugrana have developed a rather unwelcome habit of sealing league titles on their local rivals’ home turf, the last being just last season when Hansi Flick’s side also won 2-0 to claim their 28th league title.
But that was barely a contest and this one was. An excellent performance from the home side saw highly positive attacking play and seven shots on target to Barcelona’s six, the visitors saved only by the in-form Joan Garcia, who ironically switched sides only last summer.
The highlight was the incredible reaction save to keep out Pere Milla’s first half header, before he showed superb elasticity in the second half to tip Carlos Romero’s curling effort out for a corner.
Marko Dmitrovic, who replaced Garcia after he left Espanyol in the summer, also put in a brilliant performance, notably recovering remarkably from being wrong footed and then making a vital save to deny Eric Garcia from scoring almost on the goal line, in a contest that spewed chances on both ends but somehow remained goalless for much of the night.
Then with four minutes to go, Barcelona raced clear. Ferran Torres turned round Leandro Cabrera and left the defender in no-man’s land before playing in substitute Olmo, anonymous until that point, and the latter opened up his body to curl the ball high into the top right corner, Dmitrovic only able to stare as it flew in.
That was heartbreak enough but Barcelona soon crushed any possible hopes of a late leveller. Ferran was again the orchestrator. Racing down the inside right on a one-man mission to the byline and fighting off pressure from Omar El Hilali, he squared back inside for Lewandowski, who lifted delicately to double the lead and turn the next four minutes into a non-event.
