Barcelona kicked off the Xavi era with a grueling LaLiga win. In the debut of the definitive successor of Ronald Koeman on the bench, city rivals Espanyol were defeated on Saturday evening: 1-0. A striking, and debatable, penalty kick by Memphis Depay was the deciding factor in the Camp Nou, where no fewer than 74,418 spectators were present. That was double compared to the last home game against Deportivo Alavés, 37,278, and the second best entry after the Clásico against Real Madrid: 86,422.
Barcelona, with Depay and Frenkie de Jong in the starting line-up, were superior to Espanyol in the first half, but lacked precision in the finish. Xavi saw how his team dominated the game and reached Diego López’s goal area with good ball circulation. However, only three of Barcelona’s eleven attempts were between the posts. The best chance was for Sergio Busquets: the good shot by the midfielder after half an hour was defused with difficulty by López.
Espanyol tried to hurt in the counterattack and almost succeeded just before half-time. Raúl de Tomás made it difficult for Óscar Mingueza and his shot went through Gerard Pique almost behind Marc-André ter Stegen. Xavi opted for a change at halftime at Barcelona: Abde Ezzalzouli took the place of Ilias Akhomach, who had made his debut in the first of the Catalans as the starting force.
Barcelona took the lead shortly after the break via a questionable penalty. Depay went face to face with López and under pressure from Leandro Cabrera to the ground, with the defender appearing to play the ball. The VAR looked back at the moment, but the decision of arbitrator Carlos del Cerro Grande stood. Depay himself went behind the ball and with a hard shot through the middle he signed for his seventh league goal: 1-0.
Memphis does it?? The Dutchman decorates a penalty kick and gives Barcelona the lead from the spot? Is it enough for a good debut for Xavi? ??#ZiggoSport #LaLiga #BarcaEspanyol pic.twitter.com/vG1M2Bqc8O
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) Nov 20, 2021
After the opening goal, Barcelona’s confidence initially grew and both Busquets and Abde were close to making it 2-0. Espanyol did not give up hope for a good result and remained dangerous through De Tomás, who saw a shot just wide of the post twenty minutes before the end. However, the attacker was closest to 1-1 in the last ten minutes. The post prevented a free kick by De Tomás from equalizing and a few minutes later the post was also the end station of a header from RdT. Barcelona kept hanging and strangling, just like in the six minutes of extra time.
It is Barcelona’s first LaLiga win in over a month. Since the 3-1 victory over Valencia on October 17, until Saturday, the Catalans lost to both Rayo Vallecano (1-0) and Real Madrid (1-2) against Deportivo Alavés (1-1) and Celta de Vigo (3 -3) no further than a draw. The double confrontation with Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League, on the other hand, was won: 1-0 and 0-1. The victory puts Barcelona in sixth place for the time being.
| No. | Team | m | W | G | V | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seville | 13 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 14 | 28 |
| 2 | Real Sociedada | 13 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 28 |
| 3 | Real Madrid | 12 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 27 |
| 4 | Atletico Madrid | 13 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 26 |
| 5 | Real Betis | 13 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 21 |
| 6 | Barcelona | 13 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 20 |
| 7 | Rayo Vallecano | 13 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 20 |
| 8 | Athletic Club | 13 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 19 |
| 9 | Osasuna | 14 | 5 | 4 | 5 | -4 | 19 |
| 10 | Valencia | 13 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 17 |
| 11 | Espanyol | 14 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 17 |
| 12 | Villarreal | 13 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 16 |
| 13 | Real Majorca | 13 | 3 | 6 | 4 | -6 | 15 |
| 14 | Alaves | 13 | 4 | 2 | 7 | -7 | 14 |
| 15 | Celta de Vigo | 14 | 3 | 4 | 7 | -4 | 13 |
| 16 | Cadiz | 13 | 2 | 6 | 5 | -7 | 12 |
| 17 | Granada | 12 | 2 | 5 | 5 | -5 | 11 |
| 18 | Elche | 13 | 2 | 5 | 6 | -6 | 11 |
| 19 | Levante | 14 | 0 | 7 | 7 | -13 | 7 |
| 20 | getafe | 13 | 1 | 3 | 9 | -13 | 6 |