All Ernesto Valverde's Barcelona - Espanyol derbies

For Ernesto Valverde, Saturday will not be his first Barcelona derby – not by a long shot – but he will be his first for Barcelona.

Valverde played 6 Espanyol – Barça derbies during his time as a player at Espanyol between 1986 and 1988 but did not play one as a Barcelona player (1988 – 1990).

In his time as a Barça player, there were only two derbies, in La Liga in 1988-89, and Valverde was not selected by Cruyff for either game, although he was on the bench for the game at Sarrià – Espanyol’s old ground. Espanyol were relegated that season meaning the sides did not meet in 1989-90.

As Espanyol manager, he took charge in six derbies, winning one and drawing three. In fact, Valverde has faced Barça 27 times as manager of Athletic Bilbao, Espanyol and Valencia (4 victories, 8 draws and 15 defeats) and 16 times as an Espanyol and Athletic Club (2 victories, 3 draws and 11 defeats, 2 goals).

Ahead of his first derby in charge of Barça, let’s take a look at his record in derbies as a player for Espanyol - 1 win, 2 draws and 3 defeats

• 12/10/1986 · Liga · FC Barcelona - Espanyol · 1-0
• 08/02/1987 · Liga · Espanyol - FC Barcelona · 1-1
• 03/05/1987 · Liga · Espanyol - FC Barcelona · 0-0
• 07/06/1987 · Liga · FC Barcelona - Espanyol · 2-1
• 12/09/1987 · Liga · Espanyol - FC Barcelona · 2-0
• 10/02/1988 · Liga · FC Barcelona - Espanyol · 3-2

In 1986-87, there were four derbies as that season had a 'Championship Play-Off' phase that the two clubs were involved in.

He had a similar rate of sucess as Espanyol manager - 1 win, 3 draws and 2 defeats: 

• 17/08/2006 · Supercopa · Espanyol - FC Barcelona · 0-1
• 20/08/2006 · Supercopa · FC Barcelona - Espanyol · 3-0
• 13/01/2007 · Liga · Espanyol - FC Barcelona · 3-1
• 09/06/2007 · Liga · FC Barcelona - Espanyol · 2-2
• 01/12/2007 · Liga · Espanyol - FC Barcelona · 1-1
• 19/04/2008 · Liga · FC Barcelona - Espanyol · 0-0