Barcelona look to seal the 2024-25 La Liga title in the Catalan derby, provided that Real Madrid does not slip off in their game earlier, against local rivals Espanyol as they travel to RCDE Stadium on Thursday.
ESL vs BAR Match Details
Date: Thursday, 15 May 2025 / Friday, 16 May 2025
Time: 21:30 (CET), 01:00 (IST)
Venue: RCDE Stadium, Barcelona
ESL vs BAR Match Preview
Espanyol succumbed to their third straight loss in the league in the relegation decider battle against Leganes reducing the gap to five points between the sides with three games left to play in the season. They went three goals down inside an hour and despite pulling two goals back in the final 10 minutes plus stoppage time through Leandro Cabrera and substitute Pere Milla, it was too little too late for the guests. Manolo Gonzalez's side are placed 16th on the table with leaders Barcelona and European football chasers Osasuna to face before taking on another relegation battler Las Palmas in the final league game. Going four game winless since their victory against Getafe mid-April is a form Espanyol will be desperate to change to avoid losing more points in the battle to beat the drop even though they are still in a strong position to ensure safety. The Catalan derby against the free-scoring Barcelona will be a huge test, also considering they want to wrap up the title with two games to spare, but they carry a stellar home record having lost just once in the past 11 league games in front of their fans. However, that defeat came only in the last home game against Betis while they haven’t triumphed in this fixture since February 2009, not the record the Parakeets want.
Barcelona have almost etched their name on the La Liga title, which was a certain case for the last few months, as they fought from 2-0 down to win the El Clasico against Real Madrid 4-3 at the weekend. Eric Garcia halved the deficit from a corner, just like he did against Inter last week in the Champions League, before Lamine Yamal’s trademark left-boot curler leveled the scores. From then on it was Raphinha show as the Brazilian was played through by Pedri to make it 3-2 before completing his brace on the stroke of half-time, winning the ball on the edge of the box and playing one-two with Ferras Torres, completing a hat-trick of assists, to finish. He could have got a hattrick like Kylian Mbappé, whose second-half strike did not mean anything at the end, had he headed on target from a delightful pass by Yamal. The impressive win put the Blaugranas just two points away from sealing the league title which they can accomplish in the midweek facing the local rivals, avoiding defeat in the last 27 Catalan derbies, providing Real Madrid don’t lose in their match a day prior to hand them the league early. The situation is similar to what happened two seasons ago when Barcelona crowned themselves champions at Espanyol ground with a 4-2 win, relegating the hosts and flared up tensions following visitors over the top title celebrations.
ESL vs BAR Recent Form (all competitions)
BAR: WDWLW
ESL vs BAR Recent Form(La Liga)
ESL: WDLLL
BAR: WWWWW
ESL vs BAR Team News
Omar El Hilali will be back in the starting eleven for Espanyol after serving his one-match suspension as is Pol Lozano who has recovered from a quadricep injury. However, defender Brian Olivan is sidelined with a calf problem suffered at the end of March.
Meanwhile, Barcelona are without star center-back Inigo Martinez as he serves a suspension for crossing the limit of yellow cards. Alejandro Balde is pushing for a start having recovered from his injury but Robert Lewandowski is unlikely to be risked with Ferran Torres in excellent form. Jules Kounde, Pablo Torre and Marc Bernal are out with their respective injuries.
ESL vs BAR Predicted Lineups
Espanyol
Garcia; El Hilali, Kumbulla, Cabrera, Romero; Exposito, Gonzalez, Lozano; Jofre, Puado, Roberto
Barcelona
Szczęsny; Garcia, Christensen, Cubarsi, Balde; Pedri, De Jong; Yamal, Olmo, Raphinha; Torres
ESL vs BAR Head to head (La Liga)
Pld - 176
ESL won - 33
Drawn - 39
BAR won - 104
ESL vs BAR Head to head (at Espanyol home)
Pld - 89
ESL won - 25
Drawn - 30
BAR won - 34
ESL vs BAR Dream11 Match Prediction
It will be bizarre for a side that has not lost this year in the league and in this fixture for over two decades to suffer any negative result which will create unwanted drama in the already confirmed title race. Barcelona is expected to win the battle easily regardless if they are crowned earlier or after the match ends. We predict a 3-1 win for the Catalan giants.
ESL vs BAR Dream11 Top picks
Captain Pick: Raphinha
Vice-captain Picks: Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres
Our top picks for the ESL vs BAR Dream11 team are Raphinha who has the second highest goal contribution in the league this season with 27 (18 goals and nine assists) and the top assist-maker Lamine Yamal (7 goals and 12 assists).
ESL vs BAR Dream11 Team Suggestion
GK: Garcia (Cr - 8, Pts - 595)
DEF: Garcia (Cr - 8, Pts - 711), Cubarsi (Cr - 8, Pts - 920), Cabrera (Cr - 8.5, Pts - 391), Hilali (Cr - 8.5, Pts - 436),
MID: Yamal, (Cr - 9, Pts - 1516), Olmo (Cr - 8, Pts - 881), Pedri (Cr - 8, Pts - 1309), Puado (Cr - 8.5, Pts - 459),
FW: Torres (Cr - 8.5, Pts - 882), Raphinha (Cr - 9, Pts - 1907)
Vice-captain: Lamine Yamal
Captain: Raphinha
