Barcelona Dominates Espanyol to Extend La Liga Lead to Nine Points Under Hansi Flick
Barcelona Dominates Espanyol to Extend La Liga Lead to Nine Points Under Hansi Flick
- La Liga leaders Barcelona maintained their impressive early-season
- Espanyol had two goals disallowed for narrow offside calls
- This defeat marks Espanyol’s 27th consecutive derby without a victory over Barcelona,
La Liga leaders Barcelona maintained their impressive early-season form under Hansi Flick with a decisive victory over city rivals Espanyol, extending their lead over Real Madrid to nine points.
Following their dominant performance in last week’s El Clasico against Real, Barcelona’s attacking display was once again thrilling, highlighted by the standout play of teenage winger Lamine Yamal.
He delivered a stunning cross with the outside of his foot that Dani Olmo converted off the crossbar to open the scoring in the 12th minute.
Just 11 minutes later, another rising star, Marc Casado, found captain Raphinha with a perfectly timed ball, allowing him to deftly clip the ball into the net for Barcelona’s second goal.
Despite Barcelona’s high defensive line creating some nervous moments, Espanyol had two goals disallowed for narrow offside calls. One of those was a well-placed shot from Jofre Carreras, which was ruled out by VAR.
Olmo then scored his second with a powerful shot from the edge of the area, putting Barcelona 3-0 ahead. Early in the second half, Alvaro Tejero also saw his effort for Espanyol ruled out due to offside.
Espanyol managed to pull one back when captain Javi Puado finished at the far post 18 minutes after the break. However, despite some improvements, they struggled to keep pace with a Barcelona side that dominated throughout the match.
This defeat marks Espanyol’s 27th consecutive derby without a victory over Barcelona, and they have lost six of their last seven La Liga matches.
Under Flick, Barcelona has won 11 of their 12 league games and is currently on a six-match winning streak across all competitions, scoring 24 goals since their only loss to Osasuna at the end of September. They will look to continue their strong form when they visit Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Earlier on Sunday, third-placed Atletico Madrid also made headlines by defeating Las Palmas 2-0, closing the gap to Real Madrid to just one point in the table.
