Espanyol 0 vs 1 Barcelona Game Review and Player Ratings
Barcelona host Espanyol in the Catalan Derby in the first match after the international break. The event marks Xavi Hernandez’s debut and management at the Camp Nou. The game was tense, but the home side came out on top after a difficult 90 minutes.
Xavi’s season got off to a good start on Saturday as Barcelona beat rivals Espanyol 1-0 over a Memphis Depay second-half penalty.
Goals: Depay (PEN) 48 ′
Xavi called the inexperienced XI to his first game with three young players in the starting line-up.
But they got off the block quickly and could have scored early if it had not been for the Memphis Depay graduation deviation.
Espanyol remained strong but managed to shut out the home side despite the Xavi boys scoring 11 shots in the first half.
In the second half however Barcelona went almost immediately as Memphis won a penalty and turned it around very quickly.
Frenkie de Jong thought he had doubled Barça’s advantage soon after but his fine goal was denied due to offside.
There was still time for the visitors to score the equalizer and almost did it with 10 minutes left as Raul de Tomas hit the post with a free kick.
Player rating
GK: Marc-André ter Stegen – 7.5 / 10
The German shooting stop has made a few solid stops and we can be happy after getting a clean sheet at home.
RB: Oscar Minguuza – 7/10
He was strong in spirit and did not do much evil in the background. Minguza was released in the 87th minute.
CB: Gerard Pique – 7/10
The Spaniard kept things clean within his half and did enough to secure a shutout in the derby.
CB: Eric Garcia – 7/10
Garcia set his back with confidence and also won a few air duels on his team. He passed the ball well in the back.
LB: Jordi Alba – 7.5 / 10
The Spanish defender made a few appearances and set up two good chances for his teammates in the opposing side.
CM: Nico Gonzalez – 8/10
He had a great time in the game and created a few spaces for his teammates.
CDM: Sergio Busquets – 7/10
Busquets has had some promising moments on the rival side and deserves to be thanked for providing strong defense to his back line.
CM: Frenkie de Jong – 7/10
He created reasonable opportunities for others around him and worked hard to protect himself.
RW: Gavi – 8/10
He followed up to defend in the middle of his half when needed and made a few excellent runs with the ball coming down the right side.
ST: Memphis Depay – 8.5 / 10
Depay caused all sorts of headaches for Espanyol defenders and kept calm to reverse his sentence early in the second half.
LW: Ilias Akhomach – 6/10
He struggled to get into the rhythm of the game and was taken off during the break.
Modified:
LW: Abde Ezzalzouli – 7/10
He made a lot of fun runs with the ball after getting off the bench.
RW: Philippe Coutinho – 6/10
The Brazilian has given very little of his time in the field.
CM: Riqui Puig – 6/10
He was pure in his passing.
CB: Ronald Araujo – 6/10
Araujo came to see three points.
LW: Yusuf Demir – 6/10
He did not get enough minutes to verify the rate.