Barcelona clinched their 28th La Liga title as teenage wonder Lamine Yamal scored another stunning goal in a derby win at Espanyol.
The 17-year-old curled a fantastic shot into the top left corner from the edge of the box to confirm his side as champions.
With two games to go, they hold an unassailable seven-point advantage over second-placed Real Madrid.
Fermin Lopez added a second goal deep into injury time from Yamal’s pass.
The game, though, was paused for a short time in the first half as news emerged of an incident outside. A car drove into fans, with 13 people injured and four taken to hospital, but none were said to be in a serious condition.
Play restarted soon after and Barca claimed the decisive opener in the 53rd minute. It was Yamal’s 17th goal of a season in which he has cemented his place as one of the world’s most exciting players of any age.
Espanyol had defender Leandro Cabrera sent off with 10 minutes left for lashing out with his arm to strike Yamal as they challenged for the ball.
Having already won the Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup, the title success confirmed a clean sweep of domestic trophies for Hansi Flick in his first season as Barcelona head coach.
His side also beat Real Madrid in both domestic cup finals, having won all four Clasico meetings this season.
“We’ve always thought positively and we could feel it looking at training sessions. At Barca you have to win titles and three titles is just great,” Flick told Movistar Plus.
“It’s always important to be mentally strong. That is what we looked for throughout the year. Winning the Super Cup in January gave us confidence. It was great to see how the players have reached their highest level and others have improved.”
Barcelona, who also reached the Champions League semi-finals where they lost to Inter Milan in a dramatic encounter, were deserved champions with 169 goals in all competitions.
They were seconds away from triumphing the previous day until Real Madrid scored an injury-time winner against Mallorca.
The Catalans needed to beat Espanyol to be sure of the title – but had to ride their luck a bit with Urko Gonzalez and Javi Puado missing chances for the hosts.
But Yamal was the hero, not for the first time, with a trademark finish from Dani Olmo’s pass. He then provided the assist for Lopez’s deflected finish just before the end.
In a quirk, Barca have been confirmed as champions at Espanyol’s ground more times than at home in the 21st Century.
They also won it at Espanyol themselves in 2023, while a Real Madrid draw at the RCDE Stadium in 2013 ended the title race that year in Barcelona’s favour. They have only won two league titles at the Nou Camp since the 1990s.
There was a slight melee between the players at the final whistle as Barca started to celebrate, with ground staff turning the sprinklers on to get the visiting team off the pitch.
When they won at the same ground two years ago, the Barca players had to race to the dressing room as Espanyol fans ran on to the pitch at the end.
Barcelona will have an open-top bus parade in the city on Friday and receive the trophy at Sunday’s home game against Villarreal (18:00 BST).
Yet another career highlight for Yamal
Yamal now has 24 goals in 104 games for Barcelona – plus four in 19 for Spain. The Euro 2024, La Liga and Copa del Rey winner does not turn 18 until the summer.
Among those 28 strikes are three in Clasico matches, one in a Euro 2024 semi-final and another in a Champions League semi-final.
But maybe this might be the sweetest as it helped bring the La Liga title to Barcelona again.
The club’s greatest ever player, Lionel Messi, had not scored a senior goal when he was Yamal’s age.
And it is not just about goals, with the talented teenager recording 28 assists in his career, including 13 in La Liga this season – more than anyone else.
“Lamine’s goal is a move he practises a lot, he had scored twice today in the warm-up the same way. We have to look after him and let him enjoy it, he is fantastic,” said midfielder Pedri.
“You don’t win a league every day so now we need to enjoy it and celebrate this trophy. It was one of the most complicated titles. We are happy with the year we have had. We’ve enjoyed it and so have the fans.”
[BBC]