Valverde banks on debutant Dembele

Barcelona: Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde will be banking on new signing Ousmane Dembele to fill the gap left by Neymar’s departure as he looks to overcome off-pitch difficulties when the Catalans take on Espanyol on Saturday.

Barcelona have enjoyed a winning start in La Liga and despite all the off-field drama, Valverde is determined that they make it three wins out of three when they face his former club.

Valverde had a two-year spell as an Espanyol player between 1986 and 1988, reaching the 1988 UEFA Cup final, and later guided Barcelona's city rivals to the 2007 UEFA Cup final, where they also lost on penalties, during a two-year tenure as coach.

So fond are Espanyol of their former striker that he has a gate named after him at their stadium but on Saturday they will be hoping to take advantage of institutional instability at Barcelona to end their torrid run at the Nou Camp.

Barca have won their last eight La Liga derbies at the Nou Camp dating back to 2009, including 4-0, 5-1 and 5-0 victories in their last three meetings, although there is some hope in Espanyol of ending that dismal run.