Espanyol 0-2 Barcelona: Flick Reacts to Disappointing Loss

KOMPAS.com – Barcelona coach Hansi Flick praised Joan Garcia who was instrumental in bringing the Blaugrana to victory in the Catalunya derby against Espanyol.

The Catalunya derby between Espanyol and Barcelona in Week 18 of the 2025-2026 Spanish League ended with the Blaugrana winning with a score of 2-0.

The Espanyol vs Barcelona match was held at the RCDE Stadium, Barcelona, ​​Sunday (4/1/2026) early morning WIB.

Also read: Espanyol vs Barcelona 0-2 result: Blaugrana went crazy at the end of the match

Having been deadlocked until the 80th minute, Barcelona were finally able to score two goals in close time through Dani Olmo (86′) and Robert Lewandowski (90′).

This victory brought Barcelona even stronger at the top of the La Liga standings and away from the pursuit of Real Madrid.

The Blaugrana currently collect 49 points or are 7 points ahead of Los Blancos in second place.

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Even though the winning goals were scored by Dani Olmo and Robert Lewandowski, Hansi Flick actually praised the goalkeeper’s performance, who performed quite well in this match.

Thanks to Joan Garcia’s performance, Espanyol was unable to break Barcelona’s goal despite receiving various attacks throughout the match.

Barcelona is lucky to have Joan Garcia

Hansi Flick openly said that Barcelona did not deserve a goalkeeper as good as Joan Garcia.

Flick was grateful for Garcia’s good performance in this match and called him one of the best goalkeepers in the world.

“Honestly, we didn’t deserve it,” said Hansi Flick, quoted by Tribuna.

“I have to say thank you to Joan García because he played amazingly. He is one of the best goalkeepers in the world.”

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“Joan is one of the best goalkeepers in the world, and I loved how the substitutes performed when they came on.”

“The atmosphere was amazing. The quality we showed in the second half gave us what we needed,” added Flick.

Barcelona was under pressure for 85 minutes, before finally Dani Olmo came off the bench and scored a goal in the 86th minute.