Derbi barceloní
| Other names |
El Derbi El Derbi Barceloní, Catalan Derby |
|---|---|
| Locale | Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain |
| Teams |
Barcelona Espanyol |
| First meeting | 7 April 1929 |
| Latest meeting | Barcelona 4–1 Espanyol La Liga (18 December 2016) |
| Next meeting |
Espanyol v Barcelona La Liga (30 April 2017) |
| Statistics | |
| Most wins | Barcelona (93) |
| Most player appearances | Xavi (32) |
| Top scorer | Lionel Messi (17) |
The Derbi barceloní (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈdɛrβi βərsəɫuˈni]; Spanish: Derbi barcelonés, IPA: [ˈderβi βarθeloˈnes]; "Barcelonian Derby"), is the name given to football matches between FC Barcelona and RCD Espanyol, both of them from Barcelona, Spain.
Espanyol, being one of the clubs granted royal patronage, was founded exclusively by Spanish football fans, unlike the multinational nature of Barça's primary board. The founding message of the club was clearly anti-Barcelona, and they disapprovingly saw FC Barcelona as a team of foreigners. The rivalry was strengthened by what Catalonians saw as a provocative representative of Madrid. Their original ground was in the affluent district of Sarrià.
During the dictatorships of Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923–1930) and Francisco Franco (1939–1975), Espanyol was seen by the vast majority of Barcelona's citizens as a club which cultivated a kind of compliance to the central authority, in stark contrast to Barça's revolutionary spirit. Also in the 1960s and 1970s, while FC Barcelona acted as a social integrator for immigrants from poorer regions of Spain in search for a better life, Espanyol drew their support mainly from sectors close to the regime such as policemen, military officers, civil servants and career fascists.
In 1918, Espanyol started a counter-petition against autonomy, which at that time had become a pertinent issue. Later on, an Espanyol supporter group would join the Falangists in the Spanish Civil War, siding with the fascists. Despite these differences in ideology, the derbi has always been more relevant to Espanyol supporters than Barcelona ones due to the difference in objectives. In recent years the rivalry has become less political, as Espanyol translated its official name and anthem from Spanish to Catalan.
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