FOOTBALL
The Barça year starts with the Barcelona derby at the Camp Nou. It is the second time that the big match has been played on King’s Day
Xavi Hernández has made the third most appearances for FCB in matches against the blue and whites
• FC Barcelona and RCD Espanyol have played 157 times, with 87 wins for FCB, 36 draws and 34 defeats.
• At the Camp Nou, the stats are even more heavily stacked in favour of FCB: 60 wins, 10 draws and just 9 defeats.
• Barça’s biggest win of 5-0 has been repeated five times.
• Leo Messi has played Espanyol five times at the Camp Nou and has scored six goals.
• The Argentinian scored all four goals in last season’s 4-0 win at the Camp Nou, Josep Guardiola’s farewell match.
• Andoni Zubizarreta has played the most Liga derbies against Espanyol, 32.
• Xavi Hernández has the third most appearances for FCB against the ‘parakeets’. Zubizarreta and ‘Quini’ have played more, and also faced Espanyol while representing other clubs.
• Xavi has played in 25 derbies, for a total of 2,121 minutes.
• 34 points separate Barça and Espanyol in the current Liga, the biggest ever difference between the sides at this stage of a season.
• This is the second time the teams have met on King’s Day, a national holiday. The previous meeting was way back in 1935.