Espanyol 2 - Barcelona 0

Espanyol: Mora; Navas, Soldevilla, Rotchen, David García; Alex Fernández, Morales; Velamazán (De Lucas 84'), Palencia (Martín Posse 68'), Roger (Lopo 75'); Tamudo. 4-2-3-1.
Barcelona: Bonano; Puyol, Christanval, Frank De Boer (Dani 72'), Coco (Sergi 68'); Geovanni, Gabri, Cocu, Overmars; Kluivert, Saviola. 4-4-2.

Team changes: Espanyol: Navas, Velamazán for Lopo, Martín Posse / Barcelona: Geovanni, Overmars for Xavi, Rochemback.

Goals:
1-0. 57. Tamudo. Charged down Bonano clearance after poor De Boer back pass.
2-0. 70. Tamudo. Close range header after Rotchen flicked on Alex corner.

A poor Barcelona side were beaten 2-0 by Espanyol, increasing the pressure on their manager Carles Rexach. Last week's belaboured victory at Villarreal, their first in five matches, had taken some of the heat off Rexach, but he he was forced to put out a makeshift side for this game, particularly in midfield with Xavi and Rochemback suspended and Rivaldo and Gerard injured. As a result he drafted in teenager Andrés Inesta from the Barcelona B side, although the Spanish under-19 international was left on the bench as the manager decided to play it safe and move Gabri and Cocu into the central midfield position. Paco Flores brought in Argentina's Navas into his line up after he was given the fourth non-EU spot in the squad in place of Munteanu, and that meant that one of his other foreign players (Martín Posse) had to take a place on the bench at the beginning.

Both sides created chances in the first half, with Geovanni and Kluivert failing to capitalise on scoring opportunities for the visitors and Velamazán causing problems down the right wing at the other end. As the second half wore on Espanyol started to get on top though, and a poor back pass by De Boer resulted in the silliest goal of the weekend, Tamudo chasing down Bonano's hurried clearance and getting lucky as the ball struck him on the back of the foot to rebound in to the net. Less than a quarter of an hour later the nippy striker made it two for the night and eight for the season in the league, heading past the stranded keeper from close range after Rotchen powered down a corner from Alex. Rexach finally reacted, but rather than risk Iniesta he brought on striker Dani, making his first appearance of the season after a long period out through injury. Flores responded adding an extra defender Lopo, who coincidentally is Dani's first cousin.

Barça president Juan Gaspart had upset the Espanyol fans in a pre-match television interview saying that his side would win three nil, but it almost went the other way as Posse, now on for Palencia, hit the bar with a long shot. The visitors did finally get close to Mora's goal in a desperate last few minutes, but Dani shot wide and then the keeper saved comfortably from Cocu. Espanyol had beaten their neighbours for the first time at the Montjuic stadium, and they move up to tenth place, within three points of Barcelona who drop to eighth, their lowest position at this stage of the competition for several years. After the match Gaspart was forced to come out in support of his manager, but with Bianchi turning down jobs in Argentina just in case, there may be a new name on the manager's door if results don't improve soon.