Barcelona vs. Espanyol – Spanish La Liga Review (Part 1)
Barcelona were to entertain their local city rivals Espanyol at the Nou Camp on Sunday. The Spanish midfielder Andres Iniesta and the Barcelona centre back Gerard Pique, both scored one goal apiece to help their side take all three points. With the home
win against Espanyol, Barcelona are only a point away from winning the Spanish La Liga title for the third consecutive season.
Real Madrid won their weekend fixture against Sevilla and moved five points behind Barcelona. However, Josep Guardiola’s men were able to keep their eight-point lead intact as they defeated Espanyol the very next day with a two goal margin.
The two Spanish stars Gerard Pique and Andres Iniesta were on target for the Catalan Giants as they were able to put one hand on the Spanish La Liga title.
With the win against Espanyol, Barcelona are eight points clear of Real Madrid in the points table. The Catalan Giants now have to take only a single point to win the Spanish League for the third consecutive season.
In case Real Madrid lose their next week’s fixture, Barcelona will win the league even if they don’t take another point.
Andres Iniesta was able to open the scoring for the Spanish Champions during the 29th minute of the game. The Espanyol player Ernesto Galan made a mistake right outside the penalty area and Iniesta was able to take full advantage of it.
Ernesto Galan was not able to control the ball and gifted it to Andres Iniesta right outside the box. The Spanish midfielder got past all the hurdles in front of him and easily finished the move with his stronger right foot in order to give Barcelona a one
goal advantage. The Espanyol goal stopper, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Carlos-Kameni-c8464 had no chance as Iniesta made his move around the penalty area in order to give his side the lead.
Barcelona were leading the game with a single goal as the half time whistle was blown by the referee. Espanyol looked to be satisfied with their first half performance as they did not let http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604 kill the game off in the first half.
After a steady first-half performance by both the sides, the teams returned to the pitch to start the second half. Barcelona took advantage of the early corner won by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/David-Villa-c10629.
The Spanish maestro, Xavi Hernandez decided to take the corner. Xavi’s corner was very well taken and it fell perfectly for the Spanish centre-back http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gerard-c14664 Pique. Pique pounced onto the ball at the near post and easily headed it to find the back of the net.
As Gerard Pique scored the second goal of the game for the hosts, it was quite obvious that Barcelona were to win the tie. There were celebrations all around the stadium and it looked as if Barcelona had already won the Spanish La Liga.
The first time these two sides met in the first half of the Spanish League, Barcelona won 1-5 away from home. Espanyol pressed well throughout that game but the Catalans were still able to take advantage of the tired Espanyol side and that is exactly what
happened during the Sunday fixture.
Tags: