🏆 Barcelona clinch 28th La Liga title with victory over Espanyol 🇪🇸 | OneFootball

Barcelona secured their 28th La Liga title with a narrow 2-0 victory over rivals Espanyol on Thursday night.

Scorers: Yamal 53', López 90+5'

Hansi Flick's side needed a victory as anything less would have left the door open for Real Madrid ahead of the final two games.

But, despite a nervy 90 minutes, the Catalan club did just enough to get over the line.

Barcelona were almost caught out early on as Espanyol looked to hit them on the break, but Urko González’s eventual effort went narrowly wide.

Wojciech Szczęsny then produced a crucial save shortly after the 15-minute mark, as Javi Puado charged forward and fired a shot towards the bottom right corner.

It took until the second half, but Flick's side finally found their breakthrough on 53 minutes as Lamine Yamal drifted inside and curled an outrageous effort into the top corner from 20 yards out.

Espanyol still fancied their chances of finding an equaliser, with Roberto Fernández forcing a point-blank save from Szczęsny in the 75th minute - although the offside flag was eventually raised, so it may not have counted anyway.

Barça's hopes of seeing out the victory were boosted in the final 10 minutes when the referee was instructed to go over to the monitor and review an incident involving Espanyol's Leandro Cabrera and Yamal.

The defender appeared to throw an arm at Yamal and was subsequently shown a red card, leaving the home side to see out the final minutes with 10 men, much to the frustration of the home support.

Fermín López put the final nail in Espanyol's coffin deep into stoppage time, with Yamal providing the assist as he set up his teammate to sweep the ball into the bottom corner and put the result beyond any doubt.

Just as they did when they were crowned champions in 2023, Barcelona sealed the title on their local rival's turf.

The triumph also means Flick's side have completed the domestic treble, having defeated Real Madrid in the Supercopa de España in January and the Copa del Rey final last month.

📸 MANAURE QUINTERO - AFP or licensors