Barcelona 1-0 Espanyol: Memphis penalty earns Xavi tense debut victory
The new coach got three points on his first game in charge of the Catalan giants
Barcelona suffered and Xavi suffered too, but they won. They took three points from his first game in charge as coach and that was the important thing in a tense Catalan derby against Espanyol.
The team looked better, too. At least for the first 75 minutes. Barcelona played like Barcelona, which is what the fans wanted. And they came back, over 74,000, double the previous attendance against Alaves.
The first half was close to everything Xavi wanted, bar the lack of a finishing touch.
Barcelona played wide, with debutant Ilias Akhomach lively on the right flank and Jordi Alba making moves down the left.
Frenkie de Jong and Nico Gonzalez got forward and threatened too, with Barcelona overloading an Espanyol who were increasingly pinned back.
Eventually the goal game just after the break, in fortunate fashion after Memphis Depay went down in the box. Espanyol’s defender took the ball so it was a harsh penalty, but Memphis did not let them off the hook and stuck it away.
Ez Abde, on at the break, impressed in the second half in place of Ilias and could have added a second with an effort that flew narrowly over.
However Barcelona tired and in the final stages Espanyol could and should have equalised.
Dimata headed wide from just a few yards out and then Raul de Tomas headed against the post.
Barcelona were desperate for the full time whistle and eventually got it, with Camp Nou roaring to greet it. Project Xavi starts here and it starts with three points.
