Barcelona are now nine points clear at the top of La Liga after another victory at the start of this remarkable season. Hansi Flick’s side were destructive once again, securing a 3-1 win in their derby clash against city neighbours Espanyol.
It was another flying start from the hosts, as they scored after 12 minutes. It was a wonderful trivela cross from Lamine Yamal, and Dani Olmo ran onto it before firing past Joan Garcia for the opening goal.
11 minutes later, it was 2-0. Marc Casado played a beautiful through ball for Raphinha to run onto, and he did well to lift the ball over the onrushing Garcia. On the half hour mark, Barcelona got their third as Olmo lashed home from outside of the penalty area.
That first half blitz won the game for Barcelona, although Espanyol did manage to find a consolation goal from Javi Puado – it came after they had two previous efforts ruled out by VAR.
The result means that Barcelona extend their lead over Real Madrid, who did not play this weekend because their match against Valencia was postponed because of Storm Dana.