Espanyol: The other team in Barcelona

The Barcelona derby is the strangest of derbies. For one, it´s largerly one way. Barça almost don't deign to regard their cross town neighbours Espanyol as a genuine rival.

On the other hand, from their shiny new stadium on the outskirts of the city - one of many ways in which this fantastic arenas has a distinctly Premier League feel to it - there is plenty of vitriol, or 'morbo' as they say in Spain.

Indeed, upon making the trek to Cornella, the first local this writer asked where the stadium was simply shrugged. It's a fair old walk and the press entrance is well hidden away, and it took several stewards at various gates to get the right directions.

And yet, despite their name, both clubs have a lot in common. Both have tremendously successful 'canteras' - a Spanish word meaning 'quarry' used for youth set ups - and if Espanyol's is naturally less well known, it's no less prolific.

In this century alone they've produced 30 Spanish internationals at all age levels and some 45 cantera products from the turn of the century are currently active in Spain's top two divisions or abroad.

The game itself, a 3 o'clock kick off was staggeringly intense intense in the first half. Barça struggled to make headway against a hard-working and motivated opponent, whipped up by a vocal home support. It was hard to tell if it was because Barcelona were below par or whether Espanyol had brought their A game. We could find out that the answer to that in due course.

The first real chance fell to Neymar but the Brazilian headed into goalkeeper Kiko Casilla's hands. Just a minute later Esapanyol ought to have taken the lead but his shot landed just wide.

Messi then headed over from six yards while at the other end, Pizzi lifted the ball over the defender in the style of Gazza in Euro 96, but having got the first part spot on he got his follow-up all wrong in balooning over the bar.

The Portuguese later blazed over the bar having been played through by Sergio Garcia in a lighting break just moments after Neymar slid in to knock a Dani Alves cross over the bar.

Barça then had a 50/50 penalty call turned down after Pedro went down in the area and there may well have been contact.

The pace of the game dropped in the second half and Espanyol pressed with less intensity and the substitution of the lively but ineffective Pizzi for Alex Fernandez represented a defensive move indicating that coach Javier Aguirre was adopting a 'what we have, we hold' stance.

Finally the moment for the breakthrough arrived, a penalty following a handball against Javi Lopez. Though Espanyol protested vigorously it appeared as clear as day from the stands and Messi stepped up to send Kiko Casilla the wrong way.

Soon after he denied Messi but having handled outside the area he got his marching orders. And soon we had our answer to the question posed earier in this column. Suddenly Barcelona found that extra bit of space and speed of movement and were utterly dominant.

Lopez, and outfield player did well in goal denying Alexis Sanchez with an attemped lob, but with ten men Espanyol were forced into a rearguard action and to their credit they held Barcelona to 1-0.

In the press room afterwards Tata Martino was irritated by the line of questioning which again, as ever, centered upon refereeing calls. Both the Pedro incident and another penalty call that appeared a thing of nothing for Espanyol were mentioned and Martino couldn't hide his displeasure.

"It's lamentable and to be lamented that we don't speak more about the football. I don't like to talk about referees, I trust the referee to do his job and I respect his decisions. In Spain it's always about referees, maybe I say this as an Argentine because in Argentina we talk football first, then maybe later the referee. I repeat, it's a pity it has to be this way."

Javier Aguirre, his opposite number who's had his run-ins with the referees was more succinct. "The game was open until the penalty, both were in with a shout. Before that moment my team were doing exactly what I, what we wanted to do. We have to thank the fans. The relationship between them and the team is beautiful."

Around the grounds

A late Nolito penalty for Celta Vigo ended Sevilla's six game unbeaten run in Balaidos on Saturday. Celta came into the game having seen their own recent good run flounder after two straight defeats and played a vigorous game and were probably worth a victory that increases their chances of safety while allowing them to dream of Europe.

Atletico faced a fierce challenge at Athletic Bilbao and passed with flying colours. The first team to beat the Basques in their new home ground, in the cup - Espanyol subsequently won there in the league recently - they returned to win but had to do it the hard way after Iker Muniain gave the hosts a first half lead with his side on top. Diego Costa, having already spurned two decent chances made no mistake the third time in equalising. Costa was later denied a clear penalty, but a few moments later his side took the lead as Koke bravely put his head where most wouldn't put their feet to nod in a deflected Filipe Luis cross to secure the points

Madrid, meanwhile did what they do best in steamrolling a poor Rayo side who left themselves far too open. Ronaldo opened the scoring before Gareth Bale hit a brace. Full back Dani Carvajal also scored before Alvaro Morata added the fifth and the goal of the night, a brilliant curled effort from the edge of the box. Madrid had more chances to equal Barça's 6-0 win over the same opposition last month, but they had to settled for five thus ending a bad week on a positive note.

Oh, Valencia. Getafe hadn't won since November, 15 games in total. Their recently appointed coach Cosmin Contra said on Friday of their recent bad run "I hope it hurts their pride. I hope they go out and and show some balls. I want them to sweat blood". The Romanian coach got his wish and his side were already 3-1 up before Jeremy Matthieu's late red card, with goals from Ciprian, Angel Lafita and their talisman Pedro Leon. The result leave Valencia in ninth, some nine points off the Europa League spots. Maybe the 'Pizzi effect' in place since Juan Antonio Pizzi took charge is dead.

Results: Espanyol 0 Barcelona 1, Celta Vigo 1 Sevilla 0, Athletic Bilbao 1 Atletico Madrid 2, Real Madrid 5 Rayo Vallecano 0, Valladolid 1 Almeria 0, Osasuna 1 Real Sociedad 1, Villarreal 1 Elche 1, Valencia 1 Getafe 3

Monday night graveyard shift:

Granada v Levante, 7pm

Real Betis v Malaga, 9pm (Sky Sports Xtra)

Follow Joseph on Twitter @josephsbcn