Barcelona needed a dubious penalty decision six minutes before half-time to overcome city rivals Espanyol 1-0 in the Catalan derby.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic rifled home the spot-kick after Xavi had gone down far too easily in the area, and the Swede's strike proved enough to give Pep Guardiola's side all three points against a limited Espanyol outfit.

Barca dominated virtually from start to finish, but were missing their usual attacking verve in the absence of the injured Lionel Messi.

Guardiola's side were otherwise full-strength for the derby.

Espanyol, though, had a host of players sidelined, notably Raul Tamudo, Ivan De La Pena and Moises Hurtado.

In the absence of the latter, youngster Raul Baena was included in midfield once more to form a two-man defensive shield in front of the back four, alongside centre-back Juan Forlin.

Baena, a Barcelona youth player, controversially joined Espanyol two years ago.

Following that move, the midfielder was ordered to pay 500,000 euros to his former club for breach of contract earlier this year.

And he also paid the price for clinging on to Xavi's shirt in the area six minutes before the break.

The Spain midfielder exaggerated the contact, which was minimal, and went down far too easily, but the referee pointed to the spot and Ibrahimovic stepped up to smash the ball into Kameni's top-right corner and give the home side the lead.

In truth, they should already have been in front.

Ibrahimovic had turned provider on several occasions, gloriously setting up both Thierry Henry and Maxwell for wonderful goalscoring opportunities.

But Henry's angled drive was well saved by Kameni and Maxwell blasted his left-footed drive over the bar.

The best chance of the half had fallen to Pedro, but the Tenerife-born winger screwed wide on the volley with only Kameni to beat.

Espanyol had been happy to sit back and soak up the Barca pressure.

Barca's city rivals came into this match on the back of four straight defeats, but always seem to raise their game in the derby.

Remarkably, they had not lost in the league at the Nou Camp in any of the last three seasons.

Espanyol fought back to draw 2-2 here in the first of those games, ultimately causing their fierce rivals to miss out on the championship that year.

The next match between the teams here was goalless, while Mauricio Pochettino's struggling side - they were bottom at the time - surprisingly beat Guardiola's men - who were top and flying - last season.

Guardiola had dismissed any talk of revenge for last season's defeat, though.

His side understandably dominated - as they usually do here - the first half and the pattern was repeated in the second period.

After the break, Ibrahimovic got on the end of Henry's low cross, but Kameni was alert and saved from the Sweden striker.

Dani Alves then flashed a dangerous ball across goal, but the Brazilian's pass evaded all of his team-mates and Espanyol survived.

The visitors were having their moments as well, but the visitors lacked ideas in the final third.

Barca legend and recently-appointed Catalonia coach Johan Cruyff was an interested observer in the stands as the region's two biggest clubs faced each other.

But on this evidence, the Dutchman is unlikely to be on the phone to many of Espanyol's homegrown players ahead of Catalonia's friendly with Argentina later this month.

Pochettino's side were still in it, though, as Barca once again proved they are a shadow of their best version when Messi is not available.

The last half an hour was somewhat stale, with little in the way of goalscoring opportunities.

Espanyol looked unlikely to get back in it, while Barca were unusually sloppy in possession.

Ibrahimovic volleyed over with the goal at his mercy with 20 minutes left.

Substitute Seydou Keita then had a dubious penalty claim turned down moments later and Gerard Pique glanced a header over the bar from a corner.

Barcelona failed to add to Ibrahimovic's penalty, but will be content to have negotiated a potential banana skin in this match.

Guardiola's side remain top and now fly out to Dubai as they attempt to win the FIFA Club World Cup for the first time in their history.

Espanyol, meanwhile, are now in trouble at the wrong end of the table following a fifth straight defeat.

Pochettino's side have just 13 points, three more than 18th-placed Racing Santander, who face bottom side Xerez tomorrow.

However, Zaragoza's 2-1 defeat at home to Athletic Bilbao earlier this evening means that Espanyol cannot drop into the bottom three, whatever happens tomorrow.