Barcelona find their happy place again - but derby against Espanyol could yet ruin Christmas

Suddenly everything in Barcelona’s garden is rosy again. The 1-1 draw in the Clasico has been forgotten, Luis Suarez has signed a new £275k-a-week, five-year contract and as good as winked and nudged Leo Messi to sign the one that will soon be put in front of him, and coach Luis Enrique is confident enough about beating Hercules in the second leg of the first-round proper of the Copa del Rey next week that he has all but rubber-stamped extra holidays for the aforementioned Messi and Suarez, and for Neymar and Gerard Pique.

What could possibly spoil the mood? Espanyol, maybe? Quique Sanchez Flores’ team are on a run of nine games without defeat, and in seven of those matches they have not conceded. They have only conceded three more goals than Barcelona all season. And that’s a Barcelona side who have already dropped nine points from a possible 21 at home.

In fact, Barca’s home record is the same as Espanyol’s away form. So could it happen? Yes it could. Espanyol have already seen how Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Malaga have taken a point from the Camp Nou. And they have seen how Alaves took all three.

Barcelona’s city neighbours can move to within just six points of their infinitely richer rivals if they beat them. That might not seem like anything to pull the open-top bus out of the garage for but it was unthinkable back in the summer when Barca were spending €100m-plus on players and Espanyol were taking Martin Demichelis on a free from Manchester City.

The Argentinian, by the way, has only started one game so far and looks set to leave in January. He can’t get in the team because of the defensive partnership of David Lopez and Diego Reyes. They have been so solid in front of Diego Lopez that the Espanyol goalkeeper beat Carlos Kameni’s old club record for minutes without conceding at the weekend, moving onto 586.

The Pozzo family’s slightly strange decision to ditch Sanchez Flores after just one season when he had Watford up in eighth and in an FA Cup semi-final has turned out all right for all concerned in the end. The Hornets have fared okay under new coach Walter Mazzarri and Quique has Espanyol floating like a butterfly – if not quite stinging like a bee (they have only scored 19) - up in ninth.

The only cloud on their bright horizon is that Barcelona have maybe had their dip. Their win last weekend over Osasuna and the victory against Borussia Monchengladbach three days earlier suggested they are regaining some of the swagger that has seen them take the last two Liga titles.

The pitch graphic of their attempted passes from that Champions League game looked like a Jackson Pollock during his dark period. The mass of 993 passes was a new Champions League record.

There have been murmurings about them losing their famous passing style but the murmurers were firmly put in their place by those passing figures and there was something even more significant about their performance that night – they had delivered it with seven reserves in the starting line-up.

Full-backs Lucas Digne and Aleix Vidal, centre-back Samuel Umtiti, midfielders Denis Suarez, Arda Turan and Andre Gomes and centre-forward Paco Alcacer were all in the team from the start and all played well with Vidal, Suarez and Turan particularly impressive. It’s exactly the sort of strength in depth that has been missing so far this season.

It may be the reason why Luis Enrique has decided to give Messi, Suarez, Neymar and Pique an early cut ahead of the festive season. They will be sent off on their holidays early if the Espanyol game goes to plan, and so be spared meeting Hercules in the cup next week, instead enjoying a three-week rest before their next game against Villarreal on Sunday January 8.

Pique could reappear in a Catalan XI match on December 28 but the other three can pack their suitcases and head to Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, not coming back until 2017. Neymar has organized a charity game in Brazil on December 22 but that won’t be too taxing and it means they should all return fresh for when Barca set-about trying to overturn Real Madrid’s lead at the top.

It is a big ask for Barca but to suddenly have the second string brimming with confidence is a bonus for Luis Enrique – even Paco Alcacer scored in midweek, ending his 10-game barren start to life at Barca. Can that new-found confidence survive the derby?

Victory on Sunday would keep the mood light as La Liga takes its domestic break. But the neighbours will not make it easy. Sanchez Flores has an excellent record at the Camp Nou, winning three and drawing two of his nine matches there as coach of Valencia and Atletico Madrid. If anyone can rain on Barcelona’s end of year parade, it might just be his Espanyol.