Brace yourselves, Barcelona fans: he's back. On Thursday, RCD Espanyol announced the loan signing of 24-year-old winger Bryan Zaragoza from Bayern Munich with an option to buy. In theory, it's just another signing. Bryan has bounced around from club to club, with moments of brilliance largely outliers amidst inconsistency and bad moves.
However, for some reason, Bryan terrorizes Barcelona every time he takes the pitch against the Catalan side. It doesn't matter whether it's with Granada, Osasuna or Celta Vigo. The winger has only ever scored multiple goals against two opponents. One is UD Socuéllamos, then in Spain's fourth tier, a team that he scored against twice. The other is Barcelona, where he's scored three times in three games.
It started in October 2023 when Bryan was playing for Granada. The Spaniard was in his breakout (half) season when Granada took on Xavi's Barcelona. Only seconds into the game, Bryan latched onto the ball, fired across goal, and beat Marc-André ter Stegen to make it 1-0. In the 29th minute, the winger beat Jules Koundé for pace, fooled him and ter Stegen with a fake shot, and doubled Granada's lead. Only the post denied him his hat-trick and a late winner.
Barcelona eventually snatched a 2-2 draw, but that match caught the eye of many of Europe's elites. In the end, Bayern Munich won the race to sign him, and that looked to be the end of Bryan's La Liga stay. However, the following summer, having failed to cement his role with Bayern, he was loaned back to Spain, signing for Osasuna.
In late September, Barcelona, now led by Flick, had won each of their opening seven games in La Liga and looked unstoppable. Then, the club headed to Pamplona to take on Osasuna. The Basque club pulled off the big upset, and, no surprise, Bryan was at the scene of the crime again.
In the 18th minute, Bryan beat Koundé, whipped in a cross, and Ante Budimir headed home to make it 1-0. Ten minutes later, he latched onto the end of a through ball, fooled Iñaki Peña with a rollover, and calmly slotted home to make it 2-0. Bryan then created the chance that led to Osasuna's third and tormented Barcelona's defense all game in an eventual 4-2 win.
That should have been the start of something special for the Spanish international, but injuries disrupted his season. The goal vs Barcelona was his only goal of the season, and the following year, he returned to La Liga, signing for Celta Vigo on loan.
Last November, Celta and Barcelona faced off with Bryan on the bench. For the first time, he did not score against the Catalans, but he did force Frenkie de Jong into the first of two yellow cards that would eventually lead to his dismissal as Barcelona won 4-2. One month later, he actually helped Barcelona, causing problems for Real Madrid's defense and assisting the opener in a surprise 2-0 Celta win.
Again, Bryan disrupted his own season, leaving in January to sign for AS Roma on loan. The move was a big disappointment as the Spaniard played just six matches, recording a lone goal contribution. He returned to Bayern this summer, but is once again on the move now. Espanyol is his fourth, and potentially final, loan since he signed for the Bundesliga side back in 2024.
He may not have shown much consistency, but Bryan arrives at Espanyol, Barcelona's biggest local rivals, with a solid resume and a great record against the La Liga giants. That will make the Catalan derbies all the more interesting this season.
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