Espanyol tells Barça a home truth

The world is at Barcelona's feet and saw Monday Leo Messi preparing to pick up a third straight FIFA Ballon d'Or for his starring role in the club's Spanish-, European- and world-championship-winning 2011. What could be sweeter, considering that playmaker Xavi was also set to be among the three finalists invited to Zurich for the prize-giving gala, along with Cristiano Ronaldo? But the new year in La Liga was rocked on Sunday night by a throaty roar of pride as Espanyol first grappled with its aristocratic city rival, then drew level with a crashing header, and finally held on, with courage and a handball that went unnoticed, to celebrate a single point in front of home fans who reacted as if they had won the cup.

While Monday morning's headlines in Spain's sporting press were dominated by what Álvaro's late equalizer to Cesc Fàbregas' also-headed first-half strike for Barça means in terms of the balance of power between the big two now that Real Madrid has a five-point lead, it is far too early to draw any conclusions beyond the fact that the champion has a real fight on its hands to make it four Liga titles on the bounce. After seeing the effort and discipline displayed by Mauricio Pochettino's players, it feels too early to accept that the two superpowers will simply blast through 20 other league opponents, with Real now somehow in the clear as it will not be obliged to take any points from the second clásico of the campaign.

The result, a rightly proud Pochettino said afterward, is a reaffirmation of his project at Espanyol, where a well-balanced team, not over-blessed with supreme ballplayers, has proved over the past few seasons that good results are possible without big-name signings. "When you talk about the courage shown on the field, that is based on the players and staff having worked hard on certain areas where we thought we could hurt such a team as Barcelona," the Argentinean said in response to a press-room question.

Another underdog which came out of a local derby with boosted pride was Villarreal, with coach José Francisco Molina facing a visit from Valencia for his league debut in charge of perhaps the most disappointing first-division side in the pre-Christmas period (Atlético included). The home team showed renewed spark, and it was unfortunate that a loose ball late on was capitalized on by Valencia's Aritz Aduriz to tie the match at 2-2 after Villarreal had taken a worthy 2-0 lead.