Barça's dramatic comeback to win the Clásico 4-3 last Sunday put the Liga trophy within touching distance. A seven point lead over Real Madrid meant that just one draw from any of their remaining three games would crown Hansi Flick and his men champions of Spain.

Considering Barça have not lost a single league game, home or away, in 2025, surely it is now not a matter of if but when the blaugrana ribbons are officially tied to the coveted trophy...

all about the game in our match center

In fact, Barça came close to being confirmed as champions without kicking a ball on Wednesday, with Real Madrid trailing at home to Mallorca at half-time, but the all-whites fought back to win that one 2-1, meaning the cava had to go back into the fridge, hopefully for just 24 hours.

Because Barça now have the chance to secure the title once and for all in a Thursday 9.30pm CEST kick-off at the same venue where they clinched it two seasons ago, the Stage Front Stadium, home of RCD Espanyol.

Espanyol seeking survival

But it's not going to be easy. It hurt Espanyol badly to lose that game 4-2, meaning they had to witness their biggest rivals celebrating victory on their own turf while they themselves were fighting what would eventually prove to be a losing battle against relegation. They will be desperate to make sure it doesn't happen again.


But more importantly for the home fans, under remarkably similar circumstances to 2022-23, they are once again in danger of dropping into the second division. However, the situation isn't quite as critical as it was two years ago. Results in other games played on Tuesday and Wednesday have largely gone in their favour, and they are now five points clear of the drop.

A win for them in this or any of their other two remaining matches would be enough to ensure another season in the top flight.

But to do that, they will need to reverse the dynamic of the last few weeks. After stringing together a nice run of results to pull away from the relegation zone, three successive defeats to Villarreal, Betis and Leganés mean they still have work to do.

But it's away from home that Espanyol have particularly struggled of late. In front of their home fans, that Betis defeat was their only one in 11 games.

Head to head

History is very much on Barça's side. Incredibly, they have not lost any of the last 27 editions of the Derbi Barcelonés, and their 15-match unbeaten run away from home against Espanyol is their second longest such run of all time against a single opponent.

When they met at the Estadi Olimpic in November, they won comfortably with first half goals from Dani Olmo (2) and Raphinha. Espanyol raised their game after the break and managed to pull one goal back through Javi Puado, but a Barça victory was never really in doubt.

Puado and strike-partner Roberto Fernández remain the ones to watch in the home squad. The captain has scored 11 goals this season, but the real revelation has been the latter, who arrived on loan from Braga in the winter, and has already returned six goals.

Team news

Marc Bernal and Jules Koundé remain out for FC Barcelona, while there are two other important absentees. Iñigo Martinez is unavailable due to a yellow card suspension, and Ferran Torres is now missing too after being rushed to hospital with appendicitis.

Espanyol are have fewer concerns, with Brian Oliván the only major absentee.

Hansi says

Despite the rivalry between these two teams, there were nothing but pleasantries when Hansi Flick and Espanyol boss Manolo Gonzalez got together for the traditional pre-derby photo session on Wednesdays. Here's the FC Barcelona coach with his views ahead of Thursday's game:

 

Força Barça