Barcelona vs Espanyol highlights, BAR 3-1 ESP, La Liga 2024-25: Olmo brace, Raphinha goal guide Barca to win in derby

Barcelona beats Espanyol 3-1 and moves to 33 points, provisionally opening up a nine-point lead with arch-rival Real Madrid, which isn’t playing this week. 

Ansu Fati thought he had put the cherry on the icing as he finds the net with a good finish but he had timed his run too early and the goal is not given due to offside. 

Three minutes of added time at the end of the second-half!

Lewandowski goes down inside the Espanyol box and there is a half-hearted appeal for a penalty. But the referee asks the Polish forward to get up and continue playing. 

The Barca backline is put under pressure as Jofre gets the ball inside the box. He cuts in and then shoots hard, aiming to find the corner. But he does not get the required bend and the ball goes straight to Pena. 

BAR subs: IN- Gavi, Fati OUT- Pedri, Raphinha 

Yamal gets the ball inside the box, cuts in and tries to find the top corner with his curling effort. But he puts too much power in his shot and balloons his effort. 

ESP booking: Cheddira becomes the latest player to see yellow after his foul on Kounde. 

BAR sub: IN- Kounde OUT- Fort 

ESP subs: IN- Olivan, Unuvar OUT- Romero, El Hilali 

Espanyol manager Manolo Gonzalez is shown a yellow card as the referee deemed his protest to be too aggressive. 

Puardo heads the ball inside the net but believe it or not, the goal has been scrapped off again. This time though, it is much more obvious as the ball had clearly gone out of play before the cross came in to Puardo from which he headed the ball inside the net. 

There is a penalty shout from the Espanyol players, who claim that the ball touched Cubarsi’s hand as he looked to clear it. But VAR has a check and upholds the on-field referee’s decision of giving a penalty. 

Barca is lacking its first-half sharpness and incisiveness on the ball and there is a hint of complacency among Flick’s men. There is still quite some time left in the contest.; 

Lamal completely fools Jofre with a well-executed dummy and then goes for the curler form outside the box. But it never looked it threatening the Espanyol goal. 

Lewandowski goes for goal from ambitious distance and makes Garcia work with his low shot as the Espanyol keeper dives to get a hand and send the ball out for a Barca corner. 

Espanyol finally beats the Barcelona offiside trap and has a goal to show for it. Puardo makes an excellent run at the far-post and gets at the end of a cross from the left. He then keep his composure to lash the ball inside the net past Pena. 

Puardo darts inside the Barca box with the ball and then tries to go across Pena to find the far-corner. But the Barca keeper makes him big and makes the save with an outstretched hand. 

It is really not Espanyol’s night. It is for the second time that the away team has had a goal scrapped due to offside. This time, Jofre, who delivered the cross to Tejero was in an offside position when he received the pass from Kral. 

A cross comes in from the left from Jofre and Tejero is at the right place to bundle the ball inside the net. 

BAR subs: IN- Fermin, De Jong OUT- Olmo, Casado 

ESP booking: Bauza sees yellow for his late challenge on Pedri. 

Tejero has a good chance to work Pena after Espanyol gets a freekick ina good area after Balde’s foul and he almost does, with his effort whizzing past the goal. Inaki Pena had dived at full-stretch. 

Kral and Cubarsi chase for the loose ball inside the Barca box and the Barca player comes out on top as he slides in to clear the ball before Kral could take his shot. 

Cubarsi finds Raphinha with a good first-time pass and the latter floats a cross towards the far-post. Lewandowski makes a run to meet the cross with his head but fails to make contact with the ball, which is sent out for an Espanyol corner. 

Olmo gets the ball inside the box and looks for a quick shot but fails to do so after he is cut out. The Spanaird is on a hat-trick. 

Barcelona leading Espanyol 3-0 as the second-half gets underway at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys stadium in Barcelona, Spain.

An Olmo brace and a Raphinha goal keeps Barcelona in control as it leads Espanyol 3-0 at the break. 

Puardo goes for goal again but cannot find the target this time either. That was selfish considering it was not the best shooting position and he had Jofree free to his right. 

Six minutes added at the end of the first-half!

Yamal swings a cross inside the box from the right and Pedri almost gets a foot to it, which would have tricky for Garcia to deal with. But to Garcia’s relief, the ball goes out of play. 

Puardo goes for another first-time effort on the volley, but this time under a lot more pressure. His effort, however, is not on target. 

Barcelona launches another counter attack and the Espanyol defence looks exposed. It ends with Lewandowski going for a curling effort from the edge of the box but Garcia does well to make a diving save. 

It looked like Kumbulla would not be able to continue after he went down after pulling is hamstring but after some medical attention, he looks okay to play on for now. 

It is not even half-time and it should be safe to assume that the match is almost done and dusted. Barcelona’s terrific run continues in the Flick era. However, don’t count out Espanyol completely. It has shown moves of promise. 

Balde finds Olmo at the edge of the box and the latter goes for a shot, rattling the bottom-left corner of the net. That is a good finish and a stylish way to grab a brace. 

Espanyol players and fans broke into celebrations after Jofre buried the net inside the net with a first-time finish from El Hilali’s low cross from the right. However, the celebrations are cut short when VAR rules the goal out for offside. El Hilali was in an offside position when he received the pass on the right flank. 

This time it is Casado showing good vision. The 21-year-old spots Raphinha’s cross-field run and finds him expertly with a well-measured aerial pass, which Raphinha converts into goal by dinking the ball past Garcia who had rushed off his line. 

Barcelona tries to work out a short corner as Olmo tries to set up Raphinha for a shot by backheeling the ball to him. But the move does not work out in the crowded box as Espanyol clears its lines. 

The ball falls kindly for Puado inside the Barca box and the Espanyol forward shoots first time on the volley. However, he fails to find the target as the referee points for a Barca goalkick. Puado is not happy with the decision as he is certain that the ball took a touch off a Barca player before going out of play. 

Yamal shows immaculate vision to find Olmo with a pass from the outside of his boot. Olmo, who picked up the space expertly, goes for a first-time finish as the ball takes a touch off Garcia’s glove and then goes in after hitting the underside of the crossbar. 

ESP booking: Jofre becomes the player to be booked in the match as he sees a yellow card. 

Espanyol loses the ball in the final third and Olmo finds himself with time and space to work something. But he goes for goal himself, which was not the best option, with his effort going straight to Garcia. Lamal, on Olmo’s right, was in a better position to shoot for goal had he received the ball. 

Yamal cuts in and shoots hard and low at Garcia’s near-post but the Espanyol keeper saw that coming and shows a solid pair of gloves to catch and hold onto the ball. 

A cross comes in from the right and Olmo has a brilliant chance to find the net with his head but puts too much power into his effort as the ball goes out of play. 

Barcelona launches a counter attack, which sees Lamal trying to thread a pass to Pedri but Cabrera does well to cut out the pass and end that Barca attack. 

An early foul from Espanyol puts the away team under pressure. Raphinha swings a cross inside the box but Garcia heads the ball away to safety. 

The first-half of the La Liga 2024-25 clash between Barcelona and Espanyol is underway at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys stadium in Barcelona, Spain.

Previous meetings: 216

Barcelona wins: 126

Draws: 46

Espanyol wins: 44

Barcelona boss Hansi Flick said his team was in high spirits after its thumping win at Real Madrid and had turned its attention to derby rival Espanyol, but the German said all sport should be suspended due to the deadly floods in Valencia. 

Barcelona thrashed Real Madrid 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu last weekend to establish a six-point lead in La Liga but its city rival Espanyol is 20 points behind and languishing in 17th place, a point above the relegation zone. 

Barcelona holds an impeccable record in the fixture, which has often been one-sided and has not lost against Espanyol in its last 26 league encounters. 

“We always prepare well for the next game. After the celebrations, we focus on the next game. We work on what we want tomorrow. It’s a very long game in the league and we focus on the next game,” said Flick. 

With second-placed Real Madrid’s game at Valencia postponed due to the floods, Barcelona can provisionally extend its lead to nine points.