First national title De Jong with Barcelona, players have to run for Espanyol fans

Barcelona captured the Spanish national title for the first time since 2019. Coach Xavi’s team secured its 27th national title with a 4-2 win at city rival Espanyol.

With four league matches to go, Barcelona’s gap with Real Madrid, which won 1-0 at Getafe on Saturday, is as much as 14 points.

At Barcelona, Frenkie de Jong played the entire championship match, which was marred after the match when Espanyol fans took possession of the field and sought confrontation with Barcelona fans and police.

Some hooligans directed their anger at the Spanish television crew’s cameras and knocked them over. “A defeat hurts, but we will never accept any form of violence,” read a statement on the club website a day later.

“Espanyol emphatically rejects any form of violence in soccer and we will use all means at our disposal to eradicate it.”

Barcelona, which took the lead in La Liga in the thirteenth round of play, got off to a quick lead at Espanyol. Robert Lewandowski scored on a pass from Alejandro Baldé, who himself made it 0-2 nine minutes later from a rebound.

Just before halftime, Lewandowski also tapped in the 0-3. After halftime, Jules Koundé made it 0-4 after a fine pass from De Jong. Barcelona dropped the reins a bit. Espanyol got chances and Javi Puado and Joselu still scored.

Barcelona saw the championship go to Real Madrid twice (2020 and 2022) and once to Atlético Madrid (2021) since its last La Liga title.