Barcelona beat Espanyol in the derby 2–0.
Barcelona goalkeeper Joan García (left) kept his former teammates clean. EPA / AOP
Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick sent a message to fans of local rivals Espanyol ahead of Saturday’s derby.
– Even after this, we have to continue living together. The most important thing is mutual respect, and I hope everyone behaves accordingly, the German said.
The background to Flick’s comments was, of course, the recent Barça hat by Joan García return to his former home field.
García was the brightest gem in Espanyol’s junior academy when he made his debut for the Blues’ national team in December 2021.
After that, the goalkeeper had time to play almost a hundred times between the posts of Espanyol before last summer local rival FC Barcelona lured him to the other side of the city with a bigger salary bag.
Naturally, the club transfer did not go down well with Espanyol fans, and Flick tried to appeal to them not to show their disappointment to García.
“Please”
Espanyol head coach Manolo González didn’t appreciate Flick’s comments.
– Por favor, I guess I have to remind my friends what happened at Camp Nou when Luis Figo came there. Barcelona cannot afford to give any instructions in this regard, González snapped.
Portugal’s Figo exchanged a Barcelona jersey for a Real Madrid jersey for 62 million euros in the summer of 2000. In his first return match, a pig’s head was thrown onto the grass at his former club’s home field to illustrate the Barça fans’ disgust.
Nothing like that was seen at Espanyol’s home field on Saturday. Part of the reason was certainly that the club had set up the nets between the most passionate fans and the field precisely to prevent the throwing of objects that did not belong on the field.
Of course, several Judas García and Joan Rotta tifos had been twisted about Joan García.
However, the goalkeeper was not startled by the hot reception. He was arguably the best player on the pitch and saved Barcelona from several seemingly certain setbacks.
Fermín decided
Flick left Marcus Rashford on the bench during the break and sent by Fermín López instead of English. At the same time, it meant that Raphinha got a transfer to his preferred left wing.
Espanyol’s Roberto Fernández was in pain after the missed goals. EPA / AOP
Still, the biggest responsibility fell to Joan García, who made the save by Roberto Fernández drive through.
Flick woke up at the hour mark by changing his team Peter’s, Dani Olmon and Robert Lewandowski to the field. It decided the match because in the 86th minute, Olmo completed the winning goal despite Espanyol’s clear control.
Olmo received the ball after Fermín’s strong rise and fired it straight from the pass into the top corner.
Most of the 36,283 spectators left Cornellà de Llobregat’s evening heavily disappointed.
Three minutes later, Fermín cheated the 0-2 final numbers, which were recorded for Lewandowski with a great chip from the Pole.
After that, stuff started flying onto the field as well. The pig’s head was not seen there either.