Barcelona lift Spanish league title for first time since 2019
BARCELONA ARE celebrating winning the Spanish league — and this time without Lionel Messi.
Barcelona lifted their first league trophy after Messi’s departure with a 4-2 victory at Espanyol yesterday in a match marred by Espanyol fans storming the pitch at the end of the game and forcing Barcelona players to head for the locker room.
Robert Lewandowski scored twice to lead the Catalan club to its first league title since 2019. The title was secured with four rounds remaining and two years after Messi left amid the club’s financial struggles.
The last time Barcelona had celebrated a league title without Messi in its squad was back in 1998-99. He came into the first team in 2004-05 and won the title that season.
Celebrations on the field were short-lived yesterday as players had to rush to the locker room after a large group of Espanyol fans from the ultra section behind one of the goals started running towards Barcelona players singing and celebrating in the centre. Security guards quickly intervened but riot police had to stand in front of the tunnel’s entrance to prevent the fans from going in. The supporters threw chairs and other objects.
Alejandro Balde and Jules Koundé also scored for Barcelona, who now have 27 league titles, eight fewer than Real Madrid. Third-place Atletico Madrid are 16 points back after losing 1-0 at last-place Elche earlier Sunday.
The victory over city rivals Espanyol gave Barcelona an insurmountable 85 points from 34 matches, 14 points more than Madrid, who won 1-0 at Getafe on Saturday.
Barcelona have led since the 13th round and hold the league’s best defence with 13 goals conceded — 14 better than any other club. They also have 25 clean sheets.
“It’s a magnificent feeling, a feeling of job well done,” Barcelona coach Xavi said. “This is important to give the club’s project some stability. The league title shows that things have been done the right way and that we have to stay on this path.”
Barcelona won eight league titles in 11 seasons through 2019. They finished second to Madrid in 2020, then third — behind Madrid and champions Atletico — in 2021. They were second to Madrid last season.