Barcelona, minus Messi, win La Liga for first time since 2019

Madrid, May 15

Barcelona are celebrating winning the La Liga — and this time without Lionel Messi.

Barcelona lifted their first league trophy after Messi’s departure with a 4-2 victory at Espanyol on Sunday 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.

64 Barcelona needed just 64 goals to win the title thanks to their great defence that conceded a competition-low 13 goals

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 their 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 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 toward 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 Kounde also scored for Barcelona, who now have 27 league titles, eight fewer than Real Madrid. Third-placed Atletico Madrid are 16 points back after losing 1-0 at last-placed Elche earlier Sunday.

“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.”

The victory over city rivald Espanyol gave Barcelona an insurmountable 85 points from 34 matches, 14 points more than Madrid, who won 1-0 at Getafe on Saturday. — AP