Tonight, close to midnight, Barcelona will finally be able to celebrate. The team, which has gone through so many crises and scandals in recent years, needs one win to secure its first championship in four years. It has to be said, Barcelona's win was determined a long time ago. The gap between them and Atletico Madrid is 13 points, with five rounds left to finish. The only question is whether it will happen tonight, or whether the festivities will be postponed.
Barcelona may be crowned before they even play (depending on the results of Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid), but no one in the team thinks about it. What they want is to win the title with a win - because tonight's game is against Espanyol, the city rivals. Usually the Barcelona derby does not arouse too much excitement, since these are two teams with huge historical gaps, and the same is true in the table (51 points). There is no comparison between this rivalry and what surrounds the Sevilla or Madrid derby.
But this time it's different. First of all because Espanyol is three points below the red line and fighting for its life in the league, and if it loses, chances are it will be relegated to the second division, but it is much more than that. In recent years there has been bad blood between the two clubs, and not only because three years ago Espanyol was doomed to relegation after a loss to Barcelona. In the first derby of the season, on 31 December, Barcelona prevented Espanyol fans from entering Camp Nou. In response, Espanyol's management announced that Barca fans would not be able to enter Cornier El Prat this evening.
Dardar. Coming to fight, photo: EPA
In other words, if Barca win the title, the players will celebrate among themselves on the pitch, because they will have no fans among the 40,2 spectators in the stadium. Despite the huge professional gaps, Espanyol have not lost their last two meetings against Barca. Last season the match at Cornier ended 2-1 and this season at Camp Nou the teams were separated by 1-<>.
In these two matches, five red cards were drawn (three for Espanyol, two for Barca). And tonight it will be a fiery derby, maybe even more. Incidentally, Espanyol was the first team to score this season against Barca at Camp Nou in La Liga (one of only two goals conceded at home!) and one of the three teams that did not lose at the stadium (Barca won 14 of their 17 home games).
Laporta. Put more oil on the fire, photo: EPA
"We will die on the field"
The last time Espanyol won a league derby was in February 2009, more than 14 years ago. Espanyol, then last in the table with a new and inexperienced coach, Mauricio Pochettino, stunned and won at Camp Nou 1-2. Ivan de la Peña, who grew up in Barcelona, then scored the pair against Pep Guardiola's mighty team. Luis Garcia, Espanyol's current manager, was in the line-up for that historic victory.
Since then, there have been 25 derby matches in La Liga, Barca have won 18 and seven more have ended in draws. Since Espanyol moved to their new stadium, they have yet to beat Barca in La Liga (they have one cup win there). Espanyol's last home derby victory was in January 2007 at the Montjuïc Stadium, where Barcelona will play next season, when the Camp Nou undergoes an extensive renovation. Meanwhile, tempers in the city are only heating up ahead of the opening whistle. Joan Laporta, president of Barcelona, said: "I hope that on Sunday we will rejoice and celebrate the championship. It would be very good to win there, and everyone knows why."
Sergi Darder, Espanyol's captain, did not remain obliged and made belligerent statements: "In a game like this I don't care if we don't follow all the rules. I hope we stay with 11 players, but because of what's at stake we can't give up any ball. If every game is a final, then it is doubly so. We don't like to be celebrated in front of our faces. I want all of us to go up and die on the field."
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