Something unusual happened last Wednesday. For the first time since double defeat in their Supercopa series against Real Madrid in August, Barcelona lost a game of football. In La Liga, however, normal service was resumed on Sunday and their record remains unblemished after 20 rounds of matches.
Wednesday's night's narrow loss to Espanyol may yet prove anecdotic as the two teams meet again at Camp Nou on Thursday in the second leg of their Copa del Rey quarter-final tie, when Ernesto Valverde's men will be big favourites to overturn the 1-0 deficit.
"They did well, we congratulate them and we will see them in the return," Valverde said after the game at Cornella.