Espanyol vs Barcelona Prediction - An Intense Catalunya Derby In Perspective

Next Saturday, 25th of April 2015, the all-powerful Barcelona will travel to Cornella El-Prat to measure forces with their neighbours and rivals of Espanyol for round 33 of the Spanish Liga BBVA.

Last Saturday, Barcelona had to dig very deep in order to overcome a well organized and hard working Valencia side at Camp Nou. A goal on the first minute of the match by Luis Suarez and another on the dying moments of the second-half was the best Barcelona managed to do to defeat a Valencia team who failed a penalty kick on the early moments of the match by their captain Dani Parejo and have plenty of chances to score, especially during the first 45 minutes.

After the break, the Catalan appeared to be fairly more confident and controlled the match the best they could until Leo Messi made his glorious walk towards the second goal just a few seconds before the final whistle.

To increase the team’s motivation levels, Barça granted another solid over Paris SG last Tuesday and booked their place on the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League. Barcelona won 5-1 on aggregate and have almost put the French champions to ridicule during both matches.

The upcoming clash against Espanyol will certainly be far from easy, but Barcelona cannot afford any more slipups as the one from Sanchez Pizjuan against Sevilla if they want to maintain their advantage at the top of the table.

As for Espanyol, it is fair to say that the Blanquiazules have been having an overall good season so far. Their manager, Sergio Gonzalez, has been doing a very good job with the players he has at his disposal and the team is currently on a six match row without a single defeat.

After defeating Athletic Bilbao two weeks ago at Cornella El-Prat, Espanyol failed to get anything better than a draw against the relegation-threatened Levante last weekend.

The match against their neighbours and rivals will definitely not be easy for the Periquitos, but they will surely do everything within their reach to cause Luis Enrique’s men a major upset.

Espanyol

Stats: W-2 L-0 D-3

Recent Form - DWWDD

Barcelona

Stats: W-4 L-0 D-1

Recent Form - WWWDW

Possible Line-ups

Espanyol (4-4-2) - Casilla - Arbilla - Alvaro - Moreno - Duarte - Lucas - Sanchez - Lopez - Alvarez - Garcia - Caicedo

Barcelona (4-3-3) - Bravo - Montoya - Mathieu - Mascherano - Alba - Busquets - Xavi - Rakitic - Neymar - Suárez - Messi

Injury List / Suspended Players

Espanyol

None

Barcelona

Vermaelen (inj)

Head-to-head matches:

Top Players:

Espanyol

Sergio Garcia

Kiko Casilla

Felipe Caicedo

Barcelona

Lionel Messi

Luis Suarez

Neymar

Predictable Goal Scorers:

Espanyol

1. Sergio Garcia
2. Felipe Caicedo
3. Lucas

Barcelona

1. Lionel Messi
2. Luis Suarez
3. Neymar

Half-Time Score

Espanyol 0 Barcelona 2

Full-Time Score

Espanyol 1 Barcelona 3