Espanyol - Barcelona (1 - 0): More than a failure!

At first glance, the defeat against Espanyol is not a serious problem for the home team at Camp Nou. The chance to win a ticket to the semi-finals is still within the reach of the "Catalan giant". If in the second leg at Camp Nou, Messi and his teammates defeat Espanyol by 2 goals or more, the ticket to the next round will belong to them.

Therefore, the recent failure does not affect much the goal of defending the King's Cup title of coach Valverde and his team.

However, in other aspects it is not so simple. The consequences of the defeat at the Olympic Lluis Companys Stadium on January 18 were not small for Barcelona. First of all, the impact on the spirit.

Although in all factors (reputation, force, head-to-head record...), Blaugrana always surpasses their neighbor, but the importance of the Catalan derby is only less than El Clasico. Having to accept defeat against rival Espanyol, the spirit of Barcelona players was greatly damaged.

Messi missed a penalty, causing Barcelona to lose to Espanyol. Photo: Internet

This defeat not only stopped Barcelona's unbeaten streak in all competitions, but also caused the "Catalan giant" to suffer its first defeat after 13 visits to Espanyol's home ground, with a record of only wins and draws.

Having been experiencing the feeling of excitement because of the “invincible” achievement, now being “doused with cold water”, it is not strange that the enthusiasm is dampened. That said, it is difficult for coach Valverde and his team to swallow the recent defeat at the Olympic Lluis Companys stadium.

The next consequence that Barcelona had to accept after losing to Espanyon was the injury of midfielder Paulinho. According to the diagnosis from the medical team, the Brazilian player will have to rest for about 1 month.

Losing Paulinho during a season that is quite fierce (Champions League is about to return), will greatly affect the strength of the Camp Nou team. The importance of the former Tottenham player to Barcelona in the recent period, no need to say, everyone understands. Just look at the number of 8 goals that Paulinho scored for Barcelona in La Liga and it will be clear.

With the recent injury, Paulinho will rest for at least 1 month. Photo: Internet

Without Paulinho, coach Valverde had to shuffle the squad and change tactics. Backup options like Gomes, Denis Suarez… still haven’t brought peace of mind, while rookie Coutinho is also recovering from injury and needs more time to integrate with the new team.

The problem of 'no Paulinho' seemed simple, but turned out to be very difficult for coach Valverde. In the end, it was all because of the match with Espanyol.

The 0-1 defeat at the Olympic Lluis Companys Stadium did not cost Barcelona the chance to qualify for the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey, but it did put coach Valverde and his team in a very miserable situation. The consequences for the Catalan giants were much greater than a defeat./.