Barcelona gives no respite. Beats Espanyol in the Catalan derby and strengthens its position at the top

MADRID — Dani Olmo celebrated his return to the starting line-up with a first-half brace and Rafinha also scored as Barcelona beat Espanyol 3-1 in the Catalan derby on Sunday to remain top of the Spanish league.

Olmo shocked the goal in the 12th and 31st minutes. Raphinha scored his goal in the 23rd. Javier Puado scored for the visitors in the 63rd.

“The main thing is to keep winning. We had a very good week, but we needed to continue. The goal was to win and it was achieved,” Olmo said, referring to the 4-0 win in the classic against Real Madrid the previous day.

Barca maintained their lead with 33 points after their 11th win in 12 games. They are nine points ahead of Real Madrid, who did not play against Valencia at Mestalla this weekend due to an emergency situation caused by devastating flooding in the region.

The Blaugranas are dreaming of the first round. Hansi Flick’s side scored 40 goals, 19 more than second-place Real Madrid.

“We are a team that has a lot of goals, both in attack and in the second line,” Olmo emphasized. “We play directly, create a lot of chances… We want more.”

Olmo opened the scoring after receiving an exquisite pass from Lamin Yamal, which allowed him to make his seventh pass on the field with a left-footed pass.

Raphinha scored seven goals after a raid into the box in which he received a pass from Mark Casado and sent the ball into the net with Vaseline.

Olmo, who missed four games with a muscle injury, scored his fifth league goal with a half-volley shot just after the first half hour.

Puado scored a goal in the penalty area. The Parrots accounted for several goals from Jofre Carreras, while Alvaro Tejero was disallowed by VAR due to two advanced positions.

Espanyol are in 17th place with 10 points.

Before the start of the match, Aitana Bonmati, a player from the Barça women’s team, presented the Barça fans with her latest Ballon d’Or. Yamal did so with the Kopa trophy for best young player, which he received at the Ballon d’Or gala on Monday. A minute’s silence was also observed in memory of those killed in the flood.

GIULIANO SIMEONE SCORES IN ATLETICO’S VICTORY

Giuliano Simeone made his debut as a goalscorer in Atlético Madrid’s 2-0 win over Las Palmas.

Coach Diego Simeone’s son opened the scoring in the 37th minute, receiving a long pass from his Argentine compatriot Nahuel Molina and beating goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen in the penalty area.

Alexander Sorloth gave peace of mind to the victory by scoring his fourth league goal in the 83rd minute.

This victory temporarily left Colchonero in third position with 23 points, ten points behind Barcelona. Las Palmas are in the relegation zone, in 18th place with nine.

Argentine striker Julián Alvarez started the game in the starting line-up. He was replaced by his compatriot Angel Correa in the 65th minute.

Alvarez was Atlético Madrid’s hero on Thursday, scoring as they beat sixth division UE Vic 2-0 in the first round of the Copa del Rey.

In the opening minutes of the match, Cillessen left the field on a stretcher and wearing a special neck brace after being accidentally kicked by Molina in play action.

Later, Espanyol comes to the leader of Barcelona in search of a foothold at the top.

OTHER RESULTS

Alex Berenguer scored the goal that saved Athletic Bilbao from a 1-1 draw against Real Betis in San Mamés.

Berenguer sent Oscar de Marcos’ cross into the net in the 68th minute. Pablo Fornals put the visitors ahead on the scoreboard in the 52nd.

With a draw, the Basque team found itself in sixth position with 19 points. Betis follow in seventh place with the same score.

In another match, Real Sociedad beat Sevilla 2-0 thanks to goals from Japan’s Takefusa Kubo and Mikel Oyarzabal.

The San Sebastian team is in 10th position with 15 points. Sevilla is 12th with the same number of units.