Xavi Era At Barca Off To Winning Start In Catalan Derby
21 November, 2021
The Xavi Hernandez era at FC Barcelona got off to a winning start as Blaugrana secured the bragging rights in the Catalan derby against Espanyol on Saturday night.
LaLiga
Result: Barcelona 1-0 Espanyol
Date: 20 November 2021
Venue: Camp Nou
Xavi made two changes to the side that drew with Celta Vigo, as Gerard Pique returned from injury alongside debutant Ilias Akhomach, with Clement Lenglet dropping to the bench and Anssumane Fati missing through injury.
Blaugrana were on the front foot in the opening exchanges and Memphis Depay came close to giving them the lead in the fourth minute with a volley on the edge of the box that was smothered by shot-stopper Diego Lopez.
The hosts were piling pressure on Espanyol but they were kept at bay by Lopez, who made two stunning saves around the half-hour mark to deny Depay and Sergio Busquets.
Vicente Moreno's charges kept a good defensive shape in the closing phase of the first stanza, with Barca lacking the final product as the first stanza ended goalless.
Barcelona had a perfect start in the second stanza as they were awarded a penalty three minutes from the break after Depay was brought down inside the box and the Dutch forward stepped up and fired a powerful strike on the wrong side of Lopez.
The game was opening up after that with Espanyol starting to threaten going forward and bringing goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen into action but they were not clinical enough.
Xavi was showing attacking intent in the closing phase, as in the last 20 minutes he brought on Philippe Coutinho in place of Gavi and 12 minutes before time Riqui Puig replaced Pique, in a tactical switch.
Raul de Tomas was unfortunate not to level matters for the visitors in the dying minutes as he was denied by the post twice, firstly from a free-kick and two minutes from a header, as Barca held on to maximum points and moved up to sixth on the log.
Source: www.soccerladuma.co.za