Barcelona continued their excellent early-season form under Hansi Flick as the La Liga leaders swept aside city rivals Espanyol to move nine points clear of Real Madrid.
Fresh from thrashing Real in their El Clasico encounter last week, Barca’s attacking play was again sensational at times, with teenage winger Lamine Yamal once more looking a class above his contemporaries.
He bent in a wonderful cross with the outside of his foot which Dani Olmo turned in off the crossbar for the 12th-minute opener.
Another talented youngster, Marc Casado, then played an equally good ball in behind the Espanyol defence 11 minutes later, where captain Raphinha timed his run perfectly to clip the ball home.
Defensively, Barca’s incredibly high line once again made life interesting, with Espanyol having two goals ruled out for narrow offside calls.
Full-back Omar el Hilali squared for Jofre Carreras to sweep in, but the strike was ruled out by the video assistant referee (VAR). Moments later, Olmo got his second with a thumping shot from the edge of the area to put Barca 3-0 up.
Early in the second half Alvaro Tejero’s effort for the visitors was also ruled out after another close offside call.
Captain Javi Puado, though, swept in at the far post 18 minutes after the break to reduce the deficit.
Espanyol improved as Barcelona shut down, but the fourth-bottom side were second best throughout as their dismal derby record continued.
They have now gone 27 straight derbies without a win over Barcelona and have lost six of their last seven games in La Liga.
