Home ›› 22 Nov 2021 ›› Sport
Xavi Hernandez made a winning start as Barcelona coach on Saturday as a dubious Memphis Depay penalty was enough to defeat local rivals Espanyol 1-0 in La Liga.
Depay’s strike at the start of the second half ensured Xavi’s homecoming at Camp Nou ended in victory, but a nervy one, that will have left him under no illusions about the difficulty of the task ahead.
Raul de Tomas twice struck the post late on as Espanyol spurned a flurry of late chances that really should have seen them take a draw from a game Barca dominated for an hour and then almost let slip from their grasp.
Results, though, must come quickly and this one lifts Xavi’s team from ninth in the table to sixth, six points behind fourth-placed Atletico Madrid, who earlier needed a late Felipe header to win 1-0 at home to Osasuna. Sevilla, in third, were held to a 2-2 draw by Alaves.
There was also an undeniable uplift in mood at Camp Nou, with the 74,418 attendance almost double the 37,278 that watched Barca draw here against Alaves two weeks ago.
“They made things complicated for us in the last 15 minutes,” said Xavi. “We would have deserved 2-0 but it’s a good win to start the project.”
Liverpool thrash Arsenal
Liverpool handed Arsenal a reminder of the gulf they have to bridge to compete with the Premier League elite by ending the Gunners’ 10-game unbeaten run with a 4-0 thrashing at Anfield.
The Reds’ front three of Sadio Mane, Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah were all on target before substitute Takumi Minamino set the seal on a return to form for Jurgen Klopp’s men after losing for the first time in 26 games in their last outing at West Ham.
Victory lifts the Reds up to second and within four points of leaders Chelsea.
Klopp was at the centre of a heated argument with Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta that woke Liverpool from their slumber of the opening half-hour.
Visibly riled by the Spaniard, Klopp conducted the Anfield crowd with delight once Mane opened the floodgates six minutes before half-time.
“The Arsenal bench went up like it was a red card. I asked what they want in that situation,” said Klopp. “I’m really sick of these situations where everyone goes for Sadio.
“We had to take Sadio off against Atletico (Madrid in the Champions League) because they wanted him to get a yellow card. It’s just not right.”
Arsenal’s three-month unbeaten run since their worst start to a league season for 67 years has hauled them to within three points of the top four.
But they had not faced a side in the top seven of the table in that sequence and suffered another lesson on how far they still have to go to compete with the Premier League’s best after heavy defeats to Chelsea and Manchester City earlier in the campaign.
“At the moment they are better than us,” admitted Arteta. “We threw the game away in 15 minutes after half-time.”
