Barcelona.- Barcelona once again occupy the throne of the Spanish League, and this time without the presence of Lionel Messi.
The azulgranas ended a four-year drought without winning the domestic title by emerging victorious 4-2 at Espanyol on Sunday, a game that ended with a pitch invasion by club fans that caused the players to Barça ran to the locker room.
Xavi Hernández’s team secured the title four dates in advance and two years after the traumatic departure of Messi — the Argentine star who marked an unforgettable era — in the midst of the financial hardships that still plague the Catalan club.
“The League shows that things are being done well. This gives us a lot of stability to believe in the project”, said the Barça coach. “The league has been fantastic, with some brilliant victories, others not so much, but we have been a team”.
Robert Lewandowski signed a brace, while Alejandro Balde and Jules Koundé scored the other goals for Barça.
This is Barça’s 27th conquest in the national championship. They shorten the disadvantage to the top winner Real Madrid (35), which this season ceded the throne to its staunch rival.
The celebration, however, was marred when the azulgranas had to run to take shelter in the tunnel that leads to the locker room when they were celebrating in the central circle, after a large number of Espanyol fans entered the field to confront them. Security agents quickly intervened and riot police stood in front of the tunnel so that the fans could not enter.
“The celebration was normal, but there was a time when it was respectful to go to the booth,” said Xavi.
Lewandowski opened the scoring by finishing in front of the box after a pass from Balde at 11 minutes. Balde, a 19-year-old winger, scored for the first time in the season at 20.
The game was sentenced shortly before the break when Lewandowski signed his sixth double of the season. The Polish striker reached 21 goals to establish himself as the leader of the tournament’s scorer’s table and total 31 goals in all competitions.
Koundé scored Barca’s fourth at 53.
Javier Puado discounted for the hosts with a shot through the center pumped at 73 and Joselu made the second in discounts.
It was barely the ninth day in which Barça conceded goals at the goal of Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
The azulgranas reached an irreplaceable sum of 85 units. Madrid (71), who beat Getafe 1-0 on Saturday, is in second place.
On the other hand, Espanyol suffered their ninth defeat in the last 11 games to be penultimate with 31 units and was very committed to relegation.
The parakeet team strung together 26 Catalan derbies against Barça without victory — seven draws and 19 losses.
In his first full season on the bench, Xavi won his first league title, after winning eight in his time as a Barça player over 17 seasons with the club.
“It’s been ten months of work and I think we’ve done an extraordinary job”, commented the Barca coach. “For the stability of the project, this is important.”
This league is special for captain Sergio Busquets, who during the week announced his departure from the institution. Busquets reached 32 titles — nine in the league — in his career with Barça
ATHLETIC STUMBLES
Relegated Elche beat Atlético de Madrid 1-0, which fell to third position in the table with 69 points.
Fidel Chaves converted the goal of the match that gave the host Elche the victory after 41 minutes.
It was just Atlético’s second loss in their last 16 league games. The other was against leaders Barcelona in April.
“We have not been as we should be and now we must learn from this defeat to get to where we want to be,” said mattress captain Jorge “Koke” Resurrección. “We came from a good dynamic, but today it has not been like that.”
Elche, a team led by Argentine coach Sebastián Beccacece, sealed their relegation last week. After their fourth win of the season, they remain at the bottom of the table with 19 units.
VALENCIA COMES OUT OF THE DESCENT
Alberto Marí Sánchez had only been on the field for a few minutes when he converted the goal that gave Valencia a 2-1 win at Celta Vigo to escape the relegation zone.
Marí Sánchez scored her first goal in the first division after 88 minutes, just ten minutes after coming on for action in her third game of the tournament.
Justin Kluivert put Valencia ahead after eight minutes, while Haris Seferovic matched momentarily at 60 for the Galician team.
Valencia was in 14th position with 37 points, three above relegation, and with four games to play.
After losing their third defeat in a row, Celta promised to ensure permanence. He is in the 13th place with 39 units.
In addition, Sevilla maintained its great moment under the command of coach José Luis Mendilibar by winning a 2-1 visit to Valladolid.
