Barcelona attaches far more importance to this game than Espanyol.
Barcelona and Espanyol have met three times this season.
In the two games of the Copa del Rey, Barcelona won with a total score of 7-1 to advance.
In the first game of the league, Barcelona played at home and was defeated by Zhao Yang in stoppage time 3:2.
This time the Spaniards are playing at home.
Although the Spaniards have secured a Champions League seat and have no hope of competing for the title, and have no desire for anything, this is a Catalan derby and the Spaniards will never let Barcelona pass easily.
There is no doubt that Barcelona is far stronger than the Spanish.
However, Barcelona was eliminated from the Champions League, and the league has been unable to close the gap with Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid. The main reason is that the offensive method is single and basically only relies on penetration from the middle.
Another point is that Barcelona is similar to Espanyol in that all goals are scored by the front three.
This type of attack is easy to target.
The reason why Barcelona lost to Espanyol in the league was because Barcelona's central penetration was blocked by the intensive defense of Espanyol, and the back line could not guard against Espanyol's trident, and was finally defeated by Zhao Yang.
If this game is played according to the original style of play, the winner will depend on who scores the goal first.
Barcelona scored first, and the initiative was in Barcelona's hands. If the Spaniards couldn't defend intensively, Barcelona would have the chance to win.
The Spaniard scored first, and Barcelona tried to break their least favorite iron barrel formation. The result was likely to be the same as in the first half.
In terms of the strength of the frontcourt trident, Barcelona is far stronger than the Spanish.
However, Zhao Yang has been playing crazy this season. Suarez and Ronaldo have both scored more goals than him. Barcelona must win this game and they don't dare to bet on scoring first than Zhao Yang.
In order to ensure a foolproof victory against Espanyol, Barcelona coach Enrique racked his brains and finally formulated a defensive counterattack tactic.
Yes, it's not pass control, it's counterattack prevention.
In fact, since Enrique's arrival, Barcelona's style of play when facing strong opponents has often been to defend against counterattacks in the backcourt, leaving the msn trident to play freely in the frontcourt.
Only when facing weak teams did Barcelona attack and defend completely.
So it seems that Barcelona is still the Barcelona of Guardiola's era, but in fact they are already two teams.
Enrique was very pragmatic. After treating the Espanyol team as an equal opponent, he not only decided to adopt anti-counterattack tactics, but also adopted regional marking tactics to deal with Zhao Yang.
Compared with Barcelona, which attaches great importance to it, the Espanyol team's preparations are obviously much laxer.
Although the requirements of the club's top management and head coach Sergio are to defeat Barcelona at home and shatter Barcelona's championship dream.
The Espanyol players themselves have no intention of letting Barcelona go.
But without the pressure of performance, neither players, coaches nor fans can get excited.
Before the game, Barcelona's training sessions were confidential and fans and reporters were not allowed to visit.
The training of the Espanyol team is open to the whole process, and the players and fans interact closely. It seems that the league has ended early and they don't care about the Catalan derby.
In order to dismantle the Spaniard's fighting spirit, Barcelona players and fans did not satirize and ridicule their rivals in the same city before the game as usual.
Barcelona was very calm, as if they were facing an ordinary La Liga opponent rather than a local derby.
The only people who are in trouble are the media.
For the sake of traffic, the major media in Spain constantly mentioned the grievances between the two sides during interviews, hoping that the players of Barcelona and Espanyol would start a war of words.
Regrettably, the Spanish players have had unprecedented success this season, and the hostility caused by jealousy in their hearts has completely disappeared. They seem to be much more comfortable with Barcelona. Apart from gloating about Barcelona's current situation, there are no harsh words.
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Barcelona, on the other hand, did not provoke the Spaniards because of the request of the coaching staff, nor did they wish the Spaniards relegation, nor did they call the Spaniards poor.
Even if the fans were not stimulated before the game, the same-city derby between Barcelona and Espanyol still attracted fans from all over the world.
Tickets for Espanyol's El Prat stadium were sold out a week ago.
Scalpers have priced a ticket for an ordinary seat at 500 euros each, but it is still hard to get a ticket.
On the 8th, the 10 games of the 37th round of La Liga will start at the same time.
The six games related to the championship and relegation received the most attention.
Among the three championship games, the game between Barcelona and Espanyol is the focus of this round.
This game not only determines the championship this season, but also determines who the top scorer will be.
Next is the battle between Real Madrid and Valencia.
Although Valencia has no desires or desires like the Spaniards, as a team that spends the most money in the transfer market but has the worst results, Valencia wants to save some face by defeating Real Madrid in this round.
Atletico Madrid's game is the least difficult, and their opponent is Levante, the deputy squad leader.
As a team with a 100% chance of relegation, Levante will definitely fight hard in this game.
But if we work hard to solve the problem, Levante will not fall to the rear of the crane.
Strength is the guarantee of victory.
It can basically be said that Atletico Madrid has secured three points in advance.
The other three relegation battles are Real Sociedad vs. Rayo Vallecano, Getafe vs. Sporting Gijon, and Sevilla vs. Granada.
The 10 games kicked off at four o'clock in the afternoon.
Espanyol's El Prat Stadium was already packed.
The Spanish fans in the stands occupied 5/6 of the stadium, leaving less than 5,000 seats for Barcelona.
Even though there was no verbal war before the game, the banners at the scene were full of heart-wrenching words.
Apart from congratulating Zhao Yang for being the top scorer, the Spaniard's banner was all satirical to Barcelona.
Barcelona's starting lineup for this game is: 1-ter Stegen, 6-Alves, 3-Pique, 14-Mascherano, 18-Alba, 5-Busquets, 8-I
Nesta, 4-Rakitic, 11-Neymar, 10-Messi, 9-Suarez
All Barcelona’s main players are on the scene.
The Spaniard's starting lineup is: 1-Arlauskis; 16-Xavi Lopez, 5-Alvarez, 3-Ruven Duarte, 6-Rocco, 12-Diop, 17
-Perez, 7-Moreno, 25-Asensio, 20-Caicedo, 30-Zhao Yang
The Spaniards also used their main force, and at the same time they also arranged a very aggressive 433 formation.
Of the six players in the frontcourt, only Diop is a pure defensive player, and the others are all offensive players.
Obviously, just like the last round, regardless of the outcome, the Spaniards just want to score goals and have a goal-scoring battle with Barcelona.
The Spanish commentator on the scene believed that the Spaniard was showing an attitude at home.
The current Spaniards are no longer the original Spaniards, and they are qualified to have a fair showdown with Barcelona.