The derby between Espanyol and Barcelona this Saturday, in the 18th round of La Liga, carries far more tension than the standings suggest. The league leaders, with 46 points, head to Cornellà to face a solid Espanyol side sitting fifth on 33, but the match has been playing out off the field for months. Since the league draw, January 3 has been circled in red by home fans, not because of the derby itself, but because of the return of Joan García, now Barcelona’s goalkeeper, to the stadium where he grew up and shaped his soccer identity.
The expectation of a hostile reception is so strong that the club installed nets behind the goals to prevent objects from being thrown and to avoid harsher sanctions, including a possible stadium closure. The atmosphere is on high alert, and that’s no coincidence.
Joan García at the center of the storm
Joan García returns to Cornellà wearing blaugrana after years at Espanyol, the club where he spent much of his development and became a familiar face to the fans. His move to the rival last summer hasn’t healed. If anything, it’s an open wound. All eyes will be on him from warmups on, and it’s no exaggeration to say the emotional game could outweigh the sporting one for the Catalan goalkeeper.
Any reaction could further ignite an already charged environment. Former president Collet summed up the feeling of part of the fanbase while speaking on El Partidazo de COPE: “We were all upset, it was a very hard blow to see a player like Joan, who also came through the academy, do what he did in the last match, kissing the badge. We all felt bad.” The resentment is real, but it comes with a public call for limits. “We’re already pushing the limit, right? You can shout, you can boo, but I don’t think we should go beyond that.”
A derby weighed down by recent history
Espanyol know that Cornellà has become a stage for recent frustrations against Barcelona. In the 2012/13 season, Barça won 4–2 there and mathematically secured the league title, a scene that ended with a pitch invasion and players rushing off after the final whistle. Last season, already under Flick, the script repeated itself, once again with Barcelona clinching the title at the same stadium.
The difference this time is that the 2025/26 schedule makes a repeat impossible, with the first half played at Cornellà and the second at Camp Nou. Even so, collective memory doesn’t fade easily, and that helps explain why the atmosphere feels so fragile.
Collet touched on a sensitive issue when discussing the decision to install nets behind the goals. For him, the measure makes sense, especially given Joan García’s position: “if it were a player like Figo, it wouldn’t be necessary, but since he’s a goalkeeper…”. The comparison isn’t random. The former executive was blunt in warning against repeating past mistakes: “We can’t fall into the temptation or the error of what happened with Figo. The same people who are surprised by what’s going on, the same ones who don’t understand why Joan García is involved, are the ones who supported everything that happened with Figo.” The message works as both warning and mirror.
The derby needs to be decided on the field, where Barcelona aim to maintain a comfortable lead before Real Madrid take the pitch, and Espanyol look to prove their strong campaign isn’t a fluke. Anything beyond that only weakens the spectacle.