FC Barcelona defeated city rivals RCD Espanyol 2-1 yesterday at the Estadi Olimpic on the fifth date of the Spanish first division league.
It was an exciting and eventful derby, marred by the incidents taking place in the stands during the second half, due to which the match had to be stopped for ten minutes. Barça dictated the play from the start and played good attacking football, but both their lack of proper finishing and defensive fragility resulted in the first half ending 1-0 to Espanyol thanks to a goal scored by Coro in his team’s only chance in the period.
Espanyol had been reduced to ten men (midfielder Nené was sent off) right before the break, which meant that Barça’s domination was made even stronger in the second half. Eto’o and Bojan were brought on to put all of the team’s available attacking assets on display. Henry picked up a through ball from Xavi and equalized after 76 minutes, and in the last minute of added time a penalty was given for a challenge on Samuel Eto’o. Leo Messi, who had been Barça’s most threatening player all through the game, converted the penalty kick to bag his fourth league goal and give Pep Guardiola’s side the three points.
Barcelona have now obtained four wins in a row and will next take on Shakhtar Donetsk on the Champions League’s second date on Wednesday.