Big derby win, Barca touches the Liga championship

Coach Luis Enrique's team defeated Espanyol 5-0 in the Catalonia derby on the evening of May 8, and is now only one win away from the La Liga championship.

Suarez and Messi both played well in the derby victory. Photo: Reuters

Goals: Messi 8', Suarez 52', 61', Rafinha 74', Neymar 83'

Hosting their city rivals at the Nou Camp, Barca only struggled in the first half. Messi's free kick opened the scoring for the home team as Espanyol continued to play rough. From the start of the second half, Barca's attack played better. Suarez quickly scored a double, then Rafinha and Neymar scored to bring a resounding victory.

Thanks to the win in round 37, Barca reached 88 points. This achievement is one point more than the second-placed Real Madrid and three points more than the third-placed Atletico. Barca only needs to win the final round against Granada, the team that is sure to stay in the league, to successfully defend the La Liga championship.

True to the spirit of a derby, Espanyol did everything they could to deny Barca the win during the 90-minute match. The team often fought fiercely for the ball, and did not hesitate to foul the home team. In total, the referee had to show seven yellow cards to seven different Espanyol players, including four in just 21 minutes in the middle of the first half. This was also the reason why Barca could only score one goal before halftime.

In a tight match that was difficult to determine the winner, Barca could still breathe a sigh of relief when Messi reached his peak form at the right time. Thanks to this player's accurate free kick, the Nou Camp team overcame the psychological pressure from the eighth minute and maintained an active playing style. At the beginning of the second half, Messi also passed the ball to Suarez to shoot face-to-face with the goalkeeper, raising the score to 2-0. These two decisive situations were enough to ruin Espanyol's intention to score points, at the same time opening up a big victory for Barca.

Messi's free kick was too difficult for Espanyol's wall and goalkeeper.

The Catalan derby was also a testament to how well Barca can play when given plenty of time off. After a week without Champions League football like Real and Atletico, Enrique's team entered the game in full force. Espanyol repeatedly played rough to dampen Barca's attacking spirit, but their goal was not achieved. Meanwhile, the home team had enough sharpness to open the scoring early, but also maintained concentration to avoid mistakes in counter-attack situations. Barca's defense repeatedly blocked Espanyol's attempts to attack with ease.

Playing rough but unsuccessfully, Espanyol soon fell into a "deflated ball" state when conceding the second goal. After Suarez scored in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper, the away team's defense could no longer maintain the highest concentration. As a result, Suarez quickly scored a double when he headed in the penalty area in the 61st minute.

Espanyol goalkeeper Pau even "gave" Barca another goal in the 74th minute. In this situation, Pau failed to catch Neymar's harmless pass. When the ball bounced back, Rafinha quickly rushed in and shot into the empty net.

With Espanyol seemingly giving up, Suarez capped off a successful day with the assist for Barca's fifth goal. After this pass across the box, Neymar easily finished into the empty net. The decisive goal also meant the MSN trio had another match to score in.

Messi is still the inspiration for victory.

If they had been luckier, Barca could have been crowned champions at the end of round 37. This could have happened if Real had drawn with Valencia, instead of winning 3-2 in reality. Meanwhile, Atletico lost all hope in La Liga after losing 1-2 to Levante. (Barca have three more points, and a better head-to-head record than Atletico).

In the final round, coach Enrique and his team only need to win against Granada to decide the championship. Meanwhile, with one point less, Real need to win against home team Deportivo and hope Barca stumbles.

According to VNE