Barcelona are La Liga champions once again. The Catalan club won the domestic league after a 4-2 win over their cross-town rivals Espanyol on Sunday.
Barca climbed to 85 points on the standings with the win and is 14 points ahead of second-place Real Madrid with four games left to be played. This is their 27th overall La Liga title and the first since 2018-19.
“It is a magnificent feeling, one of getting the job done well,” Barcelona’s head coach Xavi said. “This started in July. It is 10 months of hard work and sacrifice. It felt like the moment tonight … I am very happy, very proud to win the league title. “
Barcelona dominated La Liga for the better part of the past decade, winning seven titles between 2009-10 and 2018-19. However, the club has struggled in the past three seasons due to poor transfer decisions and financial struggles. The latter also caused Barca’s talisman Lionel Messi to leave on a free transfer and join Paris Saint-Germain.
This past season, Barca finally returned to the right path, making key additions in Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde while giving more room to their academy talents like Pedri and Gavi. This immediately gave positive results and eventually won them the title.
Barcelona was less convincing in European competitions, being eliminated from the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League earlier than expected. The club’s focus on the next season will likely be making a bigger impact in UCL while retaining their dominance in the domestic league.
