Olmo nets two, ‘wants more’ in return to Barca XI

Dani Olmo said he wants “more” after scoring a brace in his first start since September as Barcelona beat Espanyol 3-1 in Sunday’s Catalan derby at the Olympic Stadium.

Raphinha was also on target as Barça moved nine points clear at the top of the league after 11 games. Espanyol scored a late consolation through Javi Puado.

“I feel good,” Olmo, who recently returned from a month-long injury layoff, told reporters. “I was really looking forward to returning and being able to help the team on the pitch. I’m back, enjoying it, playing, winning … and I want more.”

Olmo, a €60 million summer signing from RB Leipzig, now has five goals in five league appearances — only three of which have been as a starter — and is averaging 1.67 goals per 90 minutes in LaLiga.

The Spain international’s return adds another dimension to an attack that was already finding the net regularly.

In total, Barça have now scored 40 goals in the league this season and are the only team in Europe’s top five leagues to have four players on at least five goals: Robert Lewandowski (14), Raphinha (7), Lamine Yamal (5) and Olmo (5).

“We are a team with a lot of goals in it,” Olmo added. “Both the forwards and the midfielders that get forward can contribute in that regard. We can play direct and we create a lot of chances.”

Both Olmo’s goals arrived in the first half, the first via a brilliant Yamal assist and the second from the edge of the box, with Barça coach Hansi Flick praising his goal scoring ability.

“He knows how to score goals, this was for us very important today,” Flick said in his post-game news conference. “We are very happy Dani is back. Maybe he is not 100% still, but he’s back and was able to start. This is also why we won this match.”

Barça have now won six games in a row in all competitions, scoring at least three times on each occasion, but they lost control of the match in the second half against Espanyol.

Flick said he was happy to win his first Catalan derby in charge of the club but that the players will have to improve for the midweek Champions League game against Red Star Belgrade.

“I’m not happy of course for the second half, but I say to the team sometimes it happens,” Flick added. “We lost the concentration, the tension. We made a lot of unforced errors. But it happens sometimes. Until now, the team made a good season with unbelievable performances.

“Also the first half [we were good], but not in the second half today. I accept that because we won, but on Wednesday we need another level.”

The game began with a minute’s silence for the more than 200 people who have lost their lives in the flooding in the east of Spain this week, which led to Valencia and Villarreal‘s fixtures against Real Madrid and Rayo Vallecano, respectively, being postponed.

Injured Barça forward Ferran Torres is from the Valencia region — the are worst affected — and revealed in an Instagram post he did not go to Sunday’s derby because he did not have the energy to attend after a difficult week.

“I totally understand that,” Flick said. “It was normal, when [Torres] asked this, I said OK, of course. In this moment, there are much more important things than football and he chose that. It’s normal.”

Olmo added: “Maybe the games shouldn’t have been played [this weekend]. I am sending all my support to those affected by [the floods] and encourage people to collaborate and help however they can.”