After a season of absence, the derby returns (4:15 p.m.). He does so while Spain is saddened by the tragedy that DANA has caused, especially in the Valencian Community, and among voices that the entire day should have been postponed, as various players and coaches, such as Diego Simeone, said between Friday and Saturday. (At. Madrid) or Imanol Alguacil (Real Sociedad), and as Hansi Flick also came to say, the latter always with a more conciliatory tone. Manolo González is also clear when he points out that human lives come before football.
But LaLiga argues that it is not a problem of how to recompose a saturated calendar but rather that football is also an industry and that the industries have not stopped in Spain. The employers’ association also argues that by playing the matchday, minus the Valencian Community matches, more funds can be raised for those affected.
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In any case and in the midst of mourning, there will be a derby. In the last confrontation between Barça and Espanyol, the Barcelona team clearly won in Cornellà and were proclaimed league champions. He couldn’t celebrate for too long on the pitch because a group of blue and white radicals invaded the pitch. It was May 14, 2023 and Espanyol was on its way to Second. That’s why the derby took a pause campaign.
Until this Sunday when the Barcelona fans and the Blue and Whites will meet again at the Olímpic de Montjuïc, a stadium that was the home of Espanyol between 1997 and 2009. Twelve years in which, in terms of League derbies, they said goodbye with a 1-2 Barcelona victory, in this case with incidents caused by the Barça ultras.
Montjuïc is now the temporary home of Barça and is enjoying a Barcelona team that has been having a sensational first few months of the season. Flick’s team enters the match as a solid leader and after having decisively defeated both Bayern and Real Madrid. He has had time to savor those two crowning victories since he has not had a commitment during the week, unlike Espanyol, who faced their Cup date in Galicia on Thursday. If Barcelona is on the verge of leaving, Manolo González’s team, despite the cup triumph, is flirting with the relegation zone. Competitive in almost all of its matches, Espanyol is not now in a good dynamic of results, waiting to be able to give itself a blow against Barcelona, a circumstance that would mean a boost for its entire parish.
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The Spanish team has not defeated Barcelona in the League since winning at the Camp Nou in February 2009 with the well-known goals from Iván de la Peña. As then, both teams appear this Sunday with very different dynamics.
Espanyol has not defeated Barcelona in the League since 2009
Barça aspires to continue from strength to strength, with an attractive style, a stratospheric number of goals and an offside line that is the admiration of continental football. Flick still cannot count on Eric Garcia but the players who have been recovering like De Jong, Gavi or Dani Olmo are already adding more training and more pace to start giving them a higher minute. In this sense, it would not be surprising if Olmo entered the starting eleven, the one he left after being injured in the other derby, the one between Barcelona and Girona.
De Jong or Dani Olmo are already accumulating rhythm to aspire to a higher minute
Meanwhile, Manolo González cannot have Pol Lozano, with an injury that occurred on Thursday. He also cannot recover either Gragera or Calero. Football, despite what is happening, continues.
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