{"id":386998,"date":"2026-01-04T05:10:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T05:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/386998\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T05:10:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T05:10:07","slug":"barcelonas-joan-garcia-unbelievable-in-hostile-homecoming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/386998\/","title":{"rendered":"Barcelona’s Joan Garc\u00eda ‘unbelievable’ in hostile homecoming"},"content":{"rendered":"

BARCELONA — Barcelona<\/a> coach thanked Joan Garc\u00eda<\/a> for an unbelievable performance as the goalkeeper dealt with a hostile reception on his return to Espanyol<\/a> to help the LaLiga leaders seal a 2-0 win<\/a> at the RCDE Stadium on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Garc\u00eda, 24, became the first player to swap Espanyol for city rivals Bar\u00e7a in over 30 years last summer when he joined the Blaugrana in a deal worth \u20ac25 million ($29m).<\/p>\n

Saturday’s match marked his first encounter against his former side and he was whistled throughout the game, with the home fans calling him a rat and throwing bank notes with his face on at him.<\/p>\n

Despite that, he produced an incredible display, registering a season-high six saves, including one barely believable stop from a Pere Milla<\/a> header, before late Dani Olmo<\/a> and Robert Lewandowski<\/a> goals sealed an unlikely win for Bar\u00e7a.<\/p>\n

“I have to say thank you to Joan Garc\u00eda because he played unbelievable,” Flick said in a news conference after the match.<\/p>\n

“He’s one of the best goalkeepers in the world.”<\/p>\n

Garc\u00eda made 68 appearances for Espanyol before joining Bar\u00e7a, with Flick saying the treatment he received on Saturday will not taint his memories at the club he first joined in 2016 as a 15-year-old.<\/p>\n

Barcelona coach Hansi Flick embraced goalkeeper Joan Garc\u00eda following their win over Espanyol.\u00a0Judit Cartiel\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

“He was fantastic [amid the whistles],” Flick added. “I know he appreciates a lot and will never forget what happened here, [Espanyol coach] Manolo [Gonz\u00e1lez] gave him the confidence to play.<\/p>\n

“He will never forget this, but it’s football and he plays now for us. His performances have been unbelievable for the whole season. He played fantastic, with a clean sheet today and he was responsible for that.<\/p>\n

“It’s very important always [to have a top goalkeeper]. You can see the match today, so you know why it’s important. When you see Real Madrid<\/a>, they also have a fantastic goalkeeper. A lot of big teams have this. I am happy he’s here and happy we made this decision to sign him in the summer.”<\/p>\n

Garc\u00eda’s performance paved the way for Bar\u00e7a to steal the points late on with two goals inside the final five minutes made and converted by substitutes.<\/p>\n

Ferm\u00edn L\u00f3pez<\/a> created both of them, with Olmo scoring a sublime first in the 86th minute before Lewandowski crowned the win in the 90th minute.<\/p>\n

Flick was happy to see his changes make the difference but conceded there was not a lot to be happy about with the overall performance.<\/p>\n

“I am happy and pleased with the three points,” the German coach added. “The other things, were have to change, but at the end I am really happy about that.<\/p>\n

“We have to say that Espanyol played a fantastic game. It was an unbelievable atmosphere in this stadium, a derby, I really enjoyed it. We didn’t deserve it, I will be honest.<\/p>\n

“But at the end, the quality we brought on after the changes decided the game. This shows the quality we have, but I don’t celebrate the first 80 minutes and how we played.<\/p>\n

“Espanyol had intensity, a good dynamic, were good in the air. We suffered a lot. But we got the two goals, three points and maybe it sends a message to LaLiga and for us it is very important.”<\/p>\n

The victory extended Bar\u00e7a’s winning run in LaLiga to nine games and took them seven points clear of Real Madrid, who play Real Betis<\/a> on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Espanyol, meanwhile, saw their own five-game winning streak come to an end but remain fifth in the table and in the fight for a European spot next season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BARCELONA — Barcelona coach thanked Joan Garc\u00eda for an unbelievable performance as the goalkeeper dealt with a hostile…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-386998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}