"I always leave the neighborhood when there's an Espanyol game."

Cornellà de LlobregatOf La Riera, only the name of the neighborhood remains. Roberto, 78, was born here in Cornellà de Llobregat, and remembers how his summers were spent bathing in the river and stealing fruit and vegetables from the crops that followed the water. "Everything has changed a lot," he admits. Little remains of those summers: first, the stream and the orchards were surrounded by industrial warehouses, and then buried by the concrete that built the Espanyol stadium and the Splau shopping center. "The change has been for the better," he comments. He states that before, there were more drugs and more crime, and that with this redevelopment, the neighborhood has risen in level, as have the rents.

The conversation with Roberto takes place a few meters from the still-folded fence with which two weeks ago A female driver crashed after hitting a crowd of Espanyol fans gathered before the derby. She injured up to 17 people, and one man was admitted to the intensive care unit. In court, the driver, a 33-year-old woman from the La Riera neighborhood, argued that she panicked and, instead of hitting the brakes, pressed the gas pedal. She also claimed to have mental health issues. Antonio, 65, struggles to understand why she "persisted" in going out despite the crowd, especially since she's from the neighborhood. A first hit-and-run of a woman caused the crowd to start attacking the vehicle.Then the second accident occurred, the most serious of the two.

One day, Antonio found himself in an almost identical situation. "I parked, got out, and politely said I was a local resident and had to leave. They made a passageway and let me in," he explains. Since that day, he never takes the car again on Espanyol match days. This is a common reality in this neighborhood, which residents say has improved during the week but worsens every two weeks when there's a match. Juan never stays and always goes to his second home in Cunit. "It only took one match for me to see it," he says. The complaints stem from mobility problems, but also from the behavior of some of the Espanyol fans. "They think the neighborhood is theirs, they don't respect us," denounces the neighborhood residents' association of La Riera. They criticize the drinking parties three and four hours before the match and also the clashes.

For example, they explain that residents are not allowed to wear other club symbols on the street. "If not, they'll be yelled at," the association points out. They cite as an example a resident who had a Barça flag on his balcony and Espanyol fans burned his doorbell. "We're not against the stadium, but against the people who cause disturbances," they state. Their main demand is that they be allowed to enter the stadium through another route and that access to the neighborhood be restricted. Sources from Cornellà City Council respond that communication with residents is "ongoing" and that their commitment is to "maintain coexistence."

Mobility Restrictions

The Riera neighborhood is a cluster of low-rise buildings, closely spaced, with narrow streets in their wake. Beyond the last row of buildings, a large esplanade opens up, housing a park, the Splau shopping center, the Espanyol stadium, and the UE Cornellà stadium. Access to the main road that separates the esplanade from the neighborhood, Avenida del Baix Llobregat, is closed to the public during Espanyol matches, but the internal streets are not, and residents leaving their parking lots can still access the street. In fact, the street the driver drove through before reaching the crowd a few years ago was reportedly closed, according to residents. On this street is a bar called Los Cazadores, which used to be a meeting point for Espanyol's most hardcore fans. After a pitched battle with the Casuals-Boixos Nois, Barça's radical fans, in 2021 and several financial problems, the bar closed. This resulted in the street no longer being blocked. On more than one occasion, the blue and white supporters' clubs have requested that more streets be closed to the stadium entrances.

The incident has angered Espanyol fans, who have called for protests before this Saturday's match, in which the Pericos are playing for their survival. The driver is free with precautionary measuresTo avoid clashes, the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) have planned a similar operation to the one during the derby, and the match has been classified as high-risk. This operation includes traffic restrictions on Avenida Baix Llobregat and the surrounding areas. There will also be increased public order, with Brimo and ARRO on standby. However, other activities have been suspended due to this match, such as a match scheduled to be played at the Cornellà stadium, where Barça's youth teams were playing.