It was the third week of May, two years and two seasons ago, when I emerged from a dim alleyway onto Barcelona’s famous La Rambla. Empty for once, the street acts as the historic city’s backbone, running straight down the Catalán capital’s center to the waterfront. It was still dark and the streetlights were lit as I peered down the long vacant pedestrian boulevard. The sky was a dark blue at my back but dull pink to the East. I was accompanied by four college teammates, not all of whom were best pleased at this point with my idea of watching the sunrise over the Mediterranean. But for me it was an opportunity of rare caliber. Not only would the emerging amber sun over the sea astonish my heavy eyes, but the romantic in me was yearning to see the same sunrise that Gaudi gazed upon as he designed the elegant and innovative buildings unique to Barcelona. It would be the same sky that, in 1794, famous astrologist Pierre Méchain helped to discover the true distance of the meter. And it would be in the same sea to which Christopher Columbus eventually arrived in to share his news of a new world with Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand V.

Now jogging down the famous strip to make good time, I passed the Gothic quarter to the left. Glimpsing down its narrow corridors, the allies were ghostly in their confined dawn light, like peaking 600 years into the past. However, growing larger at the mouth of La Rambla was a lofty bronze column with a statue of Christopher Columbus himself atop. Said to be in the very place the famous explorer landed, the figure is a widely renowned symbol of Catalanisme for all of Barcelona’s inhabitants.

That is why some RCD Espanyol supporters were outraged to awake on May 23rd of this year to find the emblematic city icon robed in one of the largest Barcelona kits ever stitched. According to Goal.com Nike (Barça’s shirt maker) paid close to the sum of 100,000 euro for the publicity stunt to nourish the Derbi Barceloní that was due to take place the impending weekend. Yet there was nothing unhappy Espanyol fans could do because Barcelona’s city council had endorsed the stunt. As if it weren’t hard enough being the little guy, the Espanyol faithful now had to stare upward at one of the city's most distinguished icons as if he were the enemy. Los Periquitos faithful retaliated by unveiling a banner at the match that translated to “Catalonia is more than one club,” in the Estadi Cornellà-El Prat, attempting to take a stab at Barcelona’s club motto, “more than a club.” Meanwhile, the hardcore and often radical Espanyol supporters, La Curva, turned their back on the pitch in protest as the Liga BBVA champions FC Barcelona passed through Espanyol’s guard of honor. Nonetheless, Tito Vilanova’s side had the last laugh, comfortably beating the hosts 2-0 with a goal each from Alexis Sánchez and Pedro.

Espanyol fans are a novelty in many cases. Only 3% of the city’s people support the club according to FourFourTwo’s website. In fact, even Real Madrid supporters make up more of the Barcelona’s football fanatic population with 18%, mostly migrants. But as you would expect, neither party don’t hold a candle to FC Barcelona’s dominating 65%. When I was there visiting, I failed to see even one civilian walking around with Espanyol attire.

Maybe it was bad timing, because in my two-day stay in Barcelona, I did see the Blaugrana take on Deportivo at the Camp Nou that played part to a climactic ending.

The match was actually a yawn and finished 0-0 without hardly any stars as Barça had already won the title. The highlights included the spectators folding the red pieces of advertisement paper distributed on each seat, transforming them into thousands of paper airplanes. Once assembled, they were tossed periodically throughout the match; a half-hearted ovation met those who managed to reach the pitch. But to the joy of one of my mates who supports Barcelona from back in the States, it was the last home match of the season and all the players were on show after the final whistle to parade around the pitch with the La Liga trophy they’d won.

With fireworks matching Barcelona’s colors high in the night sky above the stadium, Espanyol were a forgotten figure. It was a thought to at least visit their ground while I was in town, but with our limited time and the Cornellà-El Prat’s inconvenient location the majority vote was to enjoy college-budget sangria on Barcelona’s Mediterranean beaches, to which I recollect a brutal sunburn.

Espanyol’s last win against their city rivals dates back a couple years to the 2008-2009 La Liga season, the birth of the Guardiola era. ESPN’s gamecast will tell us that Espanyol only took two shots that evening; both went in. Ivan de la Peña claimed both in the 2-1 victory. The veteran had been a Barcelona product growing up and even made 81 appearances for the first team back in the late 90s. However, after a few stints abroad, he returned to the Catalán capital on the other side of town. He then spent eight years with Barcelona’s other club and eventually retired there with a total of eight goals. Apparently he saved two of them for his maker.

Nevertheless, that’s the last Derbi Barceloní triumph for Los Periquitos. At the time it surely felt rewarding. Only a month before, FC Barcelona knocked Espanyol out of the Copa del Rey quarterfinals 3-2 at the Camp Nou following a goalless draw in the first leg. Since that game, Barcelona have won 15 major trophies to Espanyol’s zero. Though their trophy cabinet hasn’t always been bursting because of the club’s smaller demeanor, Espanyol did win the Copa del Rey in 2000 and 2006. And despite only finishing in the top half of the La Liga table on three occasions in the last 10 seasons, Espanyol have avoided relegation and competed in Europe twice since the turn of the century, back in 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 when there was still a UEFA Cup.

Actually, Espanyol almost won the UEFA Cup in 2007. The semifinals were stocked with three Spanish teams – Osasuna, Sevilla, and Espanyol. Espanyol advanced past Germany’s Werder Bremen but lost on penalties to Sevilla in the final with 120 minutes, concluding a 2-2 draw at Hampden Park in Glasgow.

Yet in lieu of all these little footnotes in the club’s history, they receive very little respect or recognition compared to big brother FC Barcelona. The Blaugrana have engulfed the image of Catalonia and as of late have been able to boast the region’s talent with thick mixture of Catalán blood in their squad. Ironically, once upon a time, it was Espanyol that was founded on similar principles. Espanyol was formed in spite of Barcelona by strictly domestic players as a disapproval to Barcelona’s international flavor, likely hinting to Barcelona’s origins and color inspiration from FC Basel in Switzerland. Los Periquitos are FCB’s eternal enemy, other than Real Madrid of course. Both Barça adversaries share a crown bestowed to their crests by King Alfonso XIII. You might be surprised to know Espanyol received theirs first. The two groups of fans have seen each other in an allied perspective in their opposition to the Blaugrana.

Nothing brings internal feuding to a pause like tragedy. It fuses people together, in this case football clubs together. For example in 2011, Barcelona rivals Real Madrid wore shirts that displayed the message “Ánimo Abidal”, after the Barça defender started a bout with cancer (the Frenchman has now made a full recovery and plans to continue playing football). But in the 2009-2010 preseason while on a training trip in Florence, Italy, Espanyol’s 26 year-old captain, Dani Jarque, was found dead in his hotel room after suffering a heat attack. The news not only rocked the city of Barcelona but all of Spain who mourned the loss of the Barcelona native.

Almost a year later with the horrific incident a part of the past, the national focus had shifted to Spain’s best chance to win their first ever World Cup in South Africa 2010. But it was in the final of that tournament where the unexpected happened on the most watched of all stages. As FC Barcelona midfielder Andrés Iniesta scored the game-winning goal against the Netherlands in extra time, he removed his shirt in celebration to reveal a hand written message on his undershirt: Dani Jarque siempre con nosotros – Dani Jarque always with us.

So as a football fan, when you think of Barcelona, don’t think of just FC Barcelona. Think about a city that plays home to two La Liga clubs. Don’t forget about Espanyol, just as a rival didn’t forget about Dani Jarque. Rest in peace.

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About the author
Bobby Mohr
I hail from Erie, Pennsylvania, USA. I am a 24 year old writer with a degree in COMM Media and Spanish minor. Since my playing days in college, I have turned my focus to journalism and coaching. I am an avid supporter of Real Madrid, Southampton, and the United States national team of course. My outlook on football is religious. I view the sport as not only a game but a way of life, a uniting culture that the world shares to its farthest corners. I base my articles off of how I interpret the beautiful game through personal experience and often from the content view of a barstool on match day. Football belongs to the people; my job is to help deliver it to you.