Olmo and Lamine finish the derby in half an hour

Half an hour of inspiration from Dani Olmo accompanied by Lamine Yamal was enough for Barcelona to seal a derby that helps the culés to continue ruling LaLiga with an iron fist after defeating Espanyol 3-1. Manolo González’s men finished better than they started, because at the start of the match there were reasons to fear a painful defeat, but Barça took a one-hour nap after the third goal. Espanyol’s final effort ended with a good image, but let no one forget that Barça won by playing the third half in third and the second in a stalemate.

Hansi Flick brought Dani Olmo into the starting team as expected, but not De Jong. and continued to support Casadó and Pedri. In defense, the surprise was the ownership of Hèctor Fort to give Koundé a rest. In attack, no one moves the trident. But the one who messed up was Olmo. Lewandowski took the day off on his own business.

At Espanyol, Manolo González tried to solve the problem he had in the center of the field by making Rafa Bauza (19 years old) debut in the First Division and leaving only Puado at the top.

Espanyol’s idea was to crowd the defense and midfield a lot to prevent Barça from running. Then, if they could reach Iñaki Peña’s goal, it would be like playing poker and winning.

Espanyol’s hope of doing something lasted a quarter of an hour. Lamine Yamal and Dani Olmo were enough and more than enough to spread terror in the Perica defense. A header from Olmo after a marvelous effort by Lamine ended up going high and then Olmo himself made a mistake in a play in which he shot with Lamine Yamal alone, but The kid from Rocafonda is a good person and did not hold a grudge against him. Three minutes later he invented another wonderful pass with the outside to take advantage of Dani Olmo’s unmarking, who beat Joan Garcia, ending Espanyol’s dream.

The parrots were still lucky Lewandowski walked especially slowly and thickly in that first part and that Cabrera could control it. But what Espanyol did not control were their unforced losses that supplied the Barcelona forwards with balls.

Raphinha caught a through pass from Casadó (the youth squad’s fifth assist so far in LaLiga) to beat Joan Garcia and make it 2-0. Any option for Espanyol’s reaction was frustrated when in the 27th minute the VAR annulled Jofre’s goal due to Omar’s offside. It is the eighth goal that has been disallowed against a Barcelona opponent this season. Without time to complain, Dani Olmo punished another Espanyol loss in the ball with a shot from outside the area, making it 3-0 and his fifth goal in four games. While the Montjuïc crowd applauded the offsides that his team forced against the opponent, Kumbulla retired injured before the break.

With 3-0, it was time to give one more twist to the Blaugrana team’s rotations. Flick brought Fermín and De Jong onto the field for Dani Olmo and Casadó just before Espanyol had another goal disallowed, this time by Tejero, for offside.

Barcelona was disconnecting from the game thinking more about the next match than about finishing the one they were playing and in this scenario they finally Puado managed to score a valid goal that made the score 3-1.

Barcelona tried to react, but they were playing with nine. Balde and Lewandowski were ghosts dedicated body and soul to ensuring that every ball they touched went to the Espanyol players. Not even the collaboration of these two players who did everything they could to lose balls helped Espanyol react. You get as far as you go. AND Espanyol’s fifth gear is no more than half an hour behind Barcelona and third with Dani Olmo and Lamine Yamal in charge of operations.

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