Barça kick off the new year with a monster local derby
RCD Espanyol (5th, 33pts) vs FC Barcelona (1st, 46pts)
Competition/Round: 2025-26 La Liga, Matchday 18
Barcelona Outs & Doubts: Ronald Araujo, Gavi, Andreas Christensen (out)
Espanyol Outs & Doubts: Ramon Terrats (doubt)
Date/Time: Saturday, January 3, 2026, 9pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 8pm GMT (UK), 3pm ET, 12pm PT (USA), 1.30am IST (India, Sunday)
Venue: RCDE Stadium, Cornellà, Catalonia, Spain
Referee: Víctor García Verdura
VAR: Juan Luis Pulido Santana
How to watch on TV: Not Available (USA, UK), SuperSport (Nigeria), Movistar (Spain), others
How to watch online: ESPN+ (USA), Disney Plus (UK), FanCode (India), Movistar+ (Spain), others
Happy New Year! 2026 is here and Barcelona kick off a massive January schedule with the first Derbi Barcelonés of the season as the Blaugrana make the very short trip to Cornellà to face local rivals Espanyol at the RCDE Stadium on Saturday Night Fútbol.
Barça come into this one on the back of a very successful end to 2025, with seven consecutive wins in all competitions and a very clear show of progress since the loss at Stamford Bridge. It’s actually wild to think about how Barça are finally starting to look like themselves again and Chelsea just parted ways with the manager who masterminded that night in London just five weeks ago, but that’s a conversation for another day.
It’s time to focus on the task at hand, and that is winning a ninth La Liga game in a row to open up a temporary seven-point gap at the top of the table before Real Madrid face a very difficult home game against Real Betis without the injured Kylian Mbappé on Sunday. This could be a pivotal weekend in the title race, but it won’t matter if Barça don’t do their job first.
But this truly will not be easy. Simply put, this is quite possibly the best Espanyol team of the 21st century, who deservedly sit in fifth place in the table and have pretty much already guaranteed there will be no relegation drama after needing a near miracle to stay in the division last season. They didn’t make a ton of changes in the summer, and a very similar squad to the 2024-25 campaign have played out of their minds in the first half of 2025-26, and there is no fluke to Espanyol’s record so far.
They certainly are not the most pleasant team to watch, as they rank 20th in possession, 19th in passing accuracy, 1st in crossing, and are as physical as any team in the league. But they’ve also kept the second most clean sheets and are Top 5 in both goals conceded and fewest Expected Goals Against. They are a truly excellent defensive team, built on relentless pressure, high turnovers, and fantastic shot-stopping by Marko Dmitrovic, who happens to be the last La Liga goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet against Barça as a Leganés player back in December 2024.
Dmitrovic replaced Joan Garcia, who left Espanyol for Barça six months ago and is undoubtedly the main character of this game. Joan single-handedly saved Espanyol from relegation last season but immediately became a mortal enemy by choosing to join Barça, and he will be under unimaginable pressure from the fans who used to adore him at the RCDE Stadium.
His former teammates and coach have done their best to not add fuel to the fire and the club will take safety measures to ensure the scenes don’t get ugly, but Espanyol’s fans will use their voices (and probably their middle fingers) to make their feelings about Joan very clear from the moment he steps onto the pitch for warm-ups. This will be an emotional night for Garcia, who will face a real test and will need to show he can handle a level of pressure he probably won’t face again for the rest of his career.
Joan was immense against Villarreal in the final game of 2025, and he’ll need to be immense in many ways again to help Barça win the first game of 2026. His current teammates need to help him too, and Barça cannot make the same mistakes at the back that we saw against the Yellow Submarine. Espanyol are experts in winning the ball high up the pitch and creating chances from those high turnovers, so it’ll be up to Barça’s back four and central midfielders to ensure the ball travels safely from back to front to avoid a busy night for the goalkeeper.
This won’t be pretty, and it certainly won’t be easy or comfortable. Espanyol are legitimately good this season, and they are a very awkward matchup for Barça. The Blaugrana need to be ultra-precise with their passing and very clinical with their finishing, because Espanyol won’t allow too many chances and have a really good shot-stopper. This will be close and decided on the margins, and Barça must be at their very best from start to finish.
Let’s dance.
POSSIBLE LINEUPS
Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Joan; Kounde, Cubarsí, Martín, Balde; Eric, Pedri; Yamal, Fermín, Raphinha; Ferran
Espanyol (4-2-3-1): Dmitrovic; El Hilali, Calero, Cabrera, Romero; Urko, Lozano; Puado, Expósito, Milla; Roberto
PREDICTION
This is the best Espanyol team in two decades, and they are really hungry and motivated to finally conquer their local enemies. But I expect Barça to rise to the challenge and leave Cornellà with a very important win in a very tough and close game: 2-1 to the visitors.
Category: General Sports
