La Liga: FC Barcelona vs. Espanyol; Team News, Match Preview

Can Barça get a third straight league win before a tough Champions League opener? Will Dembélé hit the ground running?

Barcelona return to action after the international break on Saturday night in Catalonia when they welcome crosstown rivals Espanyol  to the Camp Nou for what is a historically tough match in the La Ligacalendar. The Blaugrana won their first two matches and share first place in the league table with Leganés and Real Sociedad, and a win on Saturday will be a major boost for the Blaugrana in this young season.
With the Champions League opener at home against Juventus on Tuesday night, this match wouldn’t have great appeal to Barça fans, but one player will attract all the attention in this match: new signing Ousmane Dembélé, the most expensive transfer in club history who’s coming to replace Neymar and bring amazing skills and incredible potential to the Camp Nou.
The 20-year-old is Barça’s biggest hope this season: we all know Lionel Messi will be the player of the season, Luis Suárez will score 30+ goals, Andrés Iniesta and Sergio Busquet will show their class in midfield and Gerard Piqué will continue to lead the defense, but for this team to truly compete in all fronts and achieve great things this season, Dembélé will need to deal with the pressure of his massive price tag and the fact he’s replacing Neymar and show all the things that made him great at Borussia Dortmund and led to his big-money move to Catalonia.
Dembélé is a special talent and will eventually become a world-class player for Barça, but if he’s able to showcase his talents early on, especially in his home debut, then all depressed Barça fans will have something to celebrate in what has been a very difficult summer.

MATCH INFO, TV/STREAMING

Date/Time: Saturday, September 9, 2017, 8:45pm local time, 7:45pm BST (UK & Nigeria), 2:45pm ET, 11:45am PT (USA), 12:15am IST (India, Sunday)
Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona, Catalonia
Television: beIN SPORTS (USA & Canada), Sky Sports Main Event (UK), SuperSport 7 (Nigeria), SONY TEN 2 (India).

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