Real Madrid Saw Atletico Rise; Could Barcelona See Same with Ambitious Espanyol?

There's always an uncomfortable sense of risk around such proclamations, but Chen Yansheng was going for it anyway. 

"I am sure the city of Barcelona can have two strong clubs," the Chinese billionaire said in late January at his first press conference after becoming Espanyol's new majority shareholder in November. "First of all I hope to make the club debt-free, then [the next aim] is the Champions League in three years."

Three years: As statements go, it was a bold one. But how bold?

The previous three weeks had shown how. 

If Yansheng had wanted his new club's rise to be rapid, it would mean Espanyol at least getting competitive in their own city first. And they hadn't been. Handed a brutal run by the quirks of scheduling and the random nature of cup draws, Catalonia's other and often-forgotten club had met Barcelona three times in the space of 12 days—once in La Liga and across two legs in the Copa del Rey.

In the first of those, while doing little but kick their dominant neighbours for a couple of hours, Espanyol had conceded 22 fouls in hanging on for a 0-0 draw in which they had a scarcely believable 27.9 percent possession, per WhoScored.com.

Then came the second and third in the cup. The aggregate score: Barcelona 6-1.  

From the stands, Yansheng watched on, undoubtedly aware of the size of the task. In his ultimate vision, Espanyol would become a local headache for the region's established rulers, genuine rivals in a competitive derby just like Atletico Madrid have become for Real Madrid back in the capital, but there in front of him, they weren't even close. 

And yet, soon, they might be; closer, at least.  

While Barcelona have been making plenty of noise in Spain's north-east this summer, their neighbours have been building quietly and impressively in what might be considered the first phase of Yansheng's project. 

The club have appointed a new manager in the charismatic Quique Sanchez Flores, the man who led Atletico to the UEFA Europa League and Super Cup crowns in 2010. The Spaniard knows La Liga well, had Watford sparkling in the Premier League for a brief time last season and is having a promising squad built for him. Indeed, the arrivals list is notable. 

To date, striker Leo Baptistao has been signed from Atletico; Pablo Piatti has arrived from Valencia on loan with an option to buy; the mercurial Jose Antonio Reyes has come from Sevilla; the former Real Madrid and Atletico midfielder Jose Manuel Jurado has followed Flores from Watford; and goalkeeper Roberto Jimenez has been prised from Olympiakos. 

And Espanyol aren't stopping there. 

"It could be four, five or six [more]," the club's sporting director Angel Gomez told AS recently. He added that the priorities were "two defenders, two midfielders and a forward," and wasn't shy in listing his targets: Victor Camarasa, Javi Fuego, Federico Fazio, Alvaro Vazquez and Sergio Garcia. 

But the list doesn't end there, either. 

Espanyol want to keep Real Madrid loanee Marco Asensio for another season, while CEO Ramon Robert confirmed the club's interest in Jese, per Marca. There was even a suggestion that Manchester United's Juan Mata could be pursued, and though the midfielder has been deemed way out of reach, the mere idea is reflective of the new level of thinking. 

This is suddenly an ambitious club.

For Espanyol, this is a refreshing shift and a significant one; one that could alter their dynamic in Catalonia with the region's behemoth that has eclipsed all else.

Since a 2-1 victory in early 2009, Los Pericos haven't recorded a single win in the Catalan derby in any competition in seven years, and a decade has passed since the club last lifted major silverware.

In that time, and particularly in recent seasons, Espanyol have been a club existing almost in a vacuum; a club that has generated no feeling and no excitement for anyone outside its hardcore following; a club that has bordered on irrelevant. It's reflected in their recent finishes in the league: 14th, 13th, 13th, 10th, 14th—a sort of nowhere zone below anything meaningful but just above the relegation places. 

It's left the Catalan derby as a city duel that only retains spice because of contrasting identities. Because of misconceptions over what the clubs represent. Because of the lopsidedness in rivalry's background picture and the way in which Barcelona have come to dominate the notion of representing the region to the intense annoyance of Espanyol. 

Competitiveness, though? None, really. 

But that might be changing. 

The first year is always pivotal for any new owner, and that will be the case for Yansheng. This summer and the approaching season is about laying the foundations and putting in place a model that will allow the club to realise its ambition. As Valencia and Peter Lim have discovered, that involves more than money. 

But what follows the first year will be a bigger deal again for Espanyol. Projects such as these only take off if momentum is maintained and each phase builds on the one before it. Next summer, they'll need to reload again. The summer after that, again. The one after that, again. 

Each time, the intent has to grow while an internal structure is kept stable. Consistency in thought and application will bring success when combined with wealth; a Piatti-type deal now could be a Mata-like deal in two or three years if the process is right. 

And if they can get it right, Barcelona could soon have a local headache in the way Real Madrid do. 

Denis Doyle/Getty Images

For years the capital's derby had looked somewhat similar to how the derby in the far north-east has more recently, but everything has now changed. 

Until 2013, 14 years and 25 Madrid derbies had passed without an Atletico victory. The men from the Vicente Calderon were gripped by fatalism and an inferiority complex, preoccupied with their cross-city rivals in a manner that wasn't mutual. 

Real essentially didn't need to bother with Atletico. But they do now. 

Amid Diego Simeone's revolution on the banks of the Manzanares, the feisty lot from down the hill have become a complicating force for the capital's traditional kings. Three seasons have now passed since Real defeated Atletico in the league. The record in that time reads four Atleti wins and two draws, the infliction of damage on Real massive when you consider the Santiago Bernabeu outfit has missed out on league titles by three points, two points and one point in those seasons. 

For Madrid, though they've managed to hold sway in Europe, the setbacks have chipped away at their conviction, their rivals' clarity and strength in identity exposing holes in their own structure, leaving awkward questions to linger over them. 

Their issue, then, has become this: Winning the national war is hard if you can't win the local one first. 

The shift has been rapid and unforeseen, too. "Wanted," read a banner at the Bernabeu for a Madrid derby as recently as 2011, "a worthy rival for a decent derby."

Real now have one. 

And in Espanyol, Barcelona might soon have one, too. 

Follow @TimDCollins