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

At first glance, the defeat against Espanyol is not a serious problem for the Camp Nou team. 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 mental impact.

Although in all factors (reputation, strength, head-to-head record...), Blaugrana always surpasses their neighbors, the importance of the Catalan derby is only second to El Clasico. Having to accept defeat against rivals 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 ended Barcelona's unbeaten streak in all competitions, but also caused the Catalan giants to suffer their first defeat after 13 visits to Espanyol's home ground, with a record of only wins and draws.

Having been experiencing the excitement of the “invincible” achievement, now being “doused with cold water”, it is not strange that the enthusiasm is not dampened. That said, it is difficult for coach Valverde and his team to swallow the recent defeat at the Lluis Companys Olympic 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 team at Camp Nou. The importance of the former Tottenham player to Barcelona in the recent past, 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 do not bring peace of mind, and rookie Coutinho is also in the process of recovering from injury and needs more time to integrate with the new team.

The problem of 'no Paulinho' seems simple, but turns out to be very difficult for coach Valverde. It all comes down to the match against Espanyol.

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