Kolkata : Barcelona have officially clinched the 2024-25 La Liga title with two games to spare thanks to a hard-fought 2-0 victory over city rivals Espanyol in Thursday’s Derby at the RCDE Stadium in Cornellà. Barça had to battle for the entire match against a physical and tough Espanyol side, but Lamine Yamal and Fermín López scored two great goals to give Barça all three points and mathematically guarantee the 28th league championship in club history.
FIRST HALF
Barça made a poor start to the game and could have easily found themselves two goals down in the first 15 minutes as Urko González and Javi Puado had golden chances one-on-one against Wojciech Szczesny, but González dragged his shot wide of the mark and Puado had his shot saved by the Barça keeper.
The Blaugrana gave the ball away cheaply in midfield and their pressing out of possession was not good, and Espanyol found spaces in behind the Barça high line time and time again in the opening 25 minutes.
Barça eventually solved their issues and started to play better with and without the ball, and had better control of the proceedings towards the end of the period. Pedri and Robert Lewandowski fired dangerous shots that went just wide of the frame, but the visitors never created a true goal-scoring opportunity in the half.
The halftime whistle came to end a first half in which Barça were lucky not to concede and were far from their best version, and the Blaugrana needed to play better and be more clinical up front to get the winning goals and clinch the title in the second half.
SECOND HALF
Hansi Flick made a change at halftime, sending on Alejandro Balde for Gerard Martín to add a bigger threat on the left side of Barça’s attack, which was non-existent in the first half. The change worked immediately as Balde’s aggressiveness forced the Espanyol defense to pay more attention to his flank, which gave Lamine Yamal more room to work on the right.
And the teenage superstar didn’t need much time to take advantage of the extra space: Yamal received the ball on the wing, cut inside on his left foot and curled a spectacular shot into the top corner to put Barça in front eight minutes into the period.
Barça failed to capitalize on the momentum from the opening goal and Espanyol increased their pressure, and the Blaugrana defense had to survive quite a few scares as the home team continued to find spaces in behind the Barça high line.
We reached the final 10 minutes with the game still very much up for grabs, but a moment of madness gave Barça a big advantage: Espanyol center-back Leandro Cabrera punched Yamal in the stomach, and was shown a straight red card after a VAR review.
Espanyol never stopped fighting despite going down to 10 men and continued to go forward looking for an equalizer to stop Barça from winning the title in their stadium, but the Blaugrana successfully managed the dying moments and still had time to score a second as Fermín fired a beautiful shot from the edge of the box to double the Barça lead and seal the victory and the title.
The final whistle came to officially clinch Barça’s title, and the Blaugrana’s celebrations were once again cut short. But this time the fans stayed in their seats and watched the players invade the Barça’s circle looking for a fight, but nothing serious took place and Barça quickly left the pitch to celebrate in the dressing room.
Barça didn’t play their best football on the night, but the three points were all that mattered and the Blaugrana did what they needed to do to finish the job. Now they are free to party at home against Villarreal on Sunday, and they’ll get to lift the trophy in front of their fans to celebrate a spectacular season that ended with a domestic treble and brought hope and joy back to the greatest football club in the world.
Brief Scorecard :
Barcelona : 2
Yamal 53′, Fermin 90+6′
Espanyol : 0.
