FC Barcelona return to La Liga action tomorrow afternoon when they make the short trip across the city to face Catalan rivals RCD Espanyol at the Power8 Stadium in Saturday’s early afternoon kick-off. While the big news for the Blaugrana side goes to the PSG win and draw against, they will be looking to take advantage as league leaders following the results in the last match against Valencia where they maintained our two point lead over Real Madrid after their 3-1 win over Malaga CF later that evening.  While this is still a big derby for both clubs, it is mostly a must win for the Blaugrana as they look towards the home stretch to achieve La Liga and a possible treble. 

Espanyol have been in okay form lately and a win over their biggest rivals will cap off a decent campaign. Last time out against Levante, a late goal from Victor Casadesús stole a point from the visitors as there were just three minutes remaining when he found the back of the net. Although the hosts have not lost a match since March 8th, the parakeets have found it hard to find the back of the net on occassion when they really should have gotten the full points for their play. 

Their previous last meeting was a one-sided affair as Barcelona cruised to a 5-1 victory over Espanyol at the Camp Nou with Lionel Messi netting a hat trick.

It appears that a fully fit Barcelona will be in the cards following their last match against PSG.

LIKELY LINE-UPS

Barcelona (4-3-3): Bravo; Alves, Pique, Mathieu, Alba; Busquets, Rafinha, Iniesta; Messi, Suarez, Neymar

Espanyol (4-2-3-1): Casilla; Arbilla, Alvaro, Moreno, Fuentes; Lopez, Canas; Lucas, Sergio, Sevilla; Caicedo

"We are desperate to play well. We know there will be a good crowd and we want to show what we can do. We are in a city where the blue and white colours are seen less often, but the fans are proud of this team and we want to show that. A derby is different to the rest of the games. To face (Lionel) Messi, (Luis) Suarez, Neymar, Xavi, (Andres) Iniesta, it motivates you more. We don't have fear of anyone, but great respect for those players because any of them can cause you problems," said manager Luis Enrique.