\n| \n Mexico<\/p>\n<\/td>\n | \n Sky Sports Mexico, Sky+<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n ![\"Espanyol\"]( "\\"Espanyol\\"\/") <\/p>\n
Espanyol have won five straight in La Liga. \/ Joan Valls\/Urbanandsport\/NurPhoto\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The hosts will feel like this is their best chance of defeating their bitter city rivals at home in La Liga since 2007, given the stellar run of form they\u2019ve managed over the past month. Only Barcelona have collected better results than Espanyol since the calendar turned to December. <\/p>\n Espanyol will be hindered by just two significant absentees. Rom\u00e1n Terrats remains sidelined with a hamstring injury and Charles Pickel is away at AFCON. However, for the first time since early October, Javier Puado could play some minutes after recovering from a knee injury. <\/p>\n Espanyol\u2019s hopes for success will be heavily placed on an impressive defense that\u2019s allowed just 17 goals this term, the third best mark in the division. Leandro Cabrera and Fernando Calero have formed a mighty partnership in the heart of defense and will have to be at their best when Barcelona come knocking. <\/p>\n Up front, Blackburn Rovers academy graduate Tyrhys Dolan and Espanyol leading goalscorer Javier Milla will flank Roberto Fern\u00e1ndez, aiming to expose Bar\u00e7a\u2019s suspect backline. <\/p>\n ![\"Espanyol]( "\\"Espanyol") <\/p>\n
Espanyol will be motivated to upset the league leaders. \/ FotMob<\/p>\n Espanyol predicted lineup vs. Barcelona (4-2-3-1)<\/strong>: Dmitrovi\u0107; El Hilali, Calero, Cabrera, Romero; Gonz\u00e1lez, Lozano; Dolan, Exp\u00f3sito, Milla; Fern\u00e1ndez.<\/p>\n![\"Joan]( "\\"Joan") <\/p>\n
Joan Garc\u00eda will face his boyhood club for the first time. \/ Juan Manuel Serrano Arce\/Getty Images<\/p>\n All eyes will be on goalkeeper Joan Garc\u00eda as he makes he returns to his former home. The Spaniard has been nothing short of sensational since joining Barcelona last summer, but he\u2019s in for an unfriendly welcome when he returns to face his boyhood club for the first time in his career. <\/p>\n In front of Garc\u00eda, Barcelona\u2019s backline has found stability since the calendar turned to December and Flick is expected to stick with the same four players that have featured heavily during the positive run. <\/p>\n Pedri will return to his usual spot in midfield after recovering from a muscular overload and Eric Garc\u00eda will likely be deployed next to him instead of Frenkie de Jong. <\/p>\n Lamine Yamal and Raphinha, meanwhile, ended the year in style and will hope to start 2026 the same way, flanking Ferran Torres on a mission to overwhelm a stout defense. <\/p>\n \ndark. Next. 25 Best Barcelona Players. The 25 Best Barcelona Players of All Time\u2014Ranked<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n ![\"Barcelona]( "\\"Barcelona") <\/p>\n
Barcelona want to make it nine straight wins in La Liga. \/ FotMob<\/p>\n Barcelona Predicted Lineup vs. Espanyol (4-2-3-1)<\/strong>: Garc\u00eda; Kound\u00e9, Cubars\u00ed, Mart\u00edn, Balde; Garc\u00eda, Pedri; Yamal, L\u00f3pez, Raphinha; Torres.<\/p>\nThis will be far from a walk in the park for the La Liga leaders, but the significant gap in overall quality between both sides, along with Barcelona\u2019s recent improvement, should see them exit the RCDE Stadium with all three points. <\/p>\n It\u2019s a marquee matchup for Barcelona, especially for La Masia players that have known from a young age that Espanyol are a rival they can\u2019t afford to drop points against. There will be a little extra motivation for Flick\u2019s men as they aim to maintain their Catalan derby dominance. <\/p>\n It will take something special to bypass Espanyol\u2019s sturdy backline, but fortunately for Barcelona, they have a number of players capable of producing that magical moment. <\/p>\n Prediction: Espanyol 1\u20132 Barcelona<\/strong><\/p>\nREAD THE LATEST BARCELONA NEWS, TRANSFER RUMORS AND MORE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"La Liga table-toppers Barcelona make their 2026 debut on Saturday night with a visit to crosstown rivals Espanyol…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":489219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[221,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-489218","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-soccer","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115830695018277890","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} |