Espanyol 0-2 Barcelona: Barca triumph 2024/25 La Liga Champions!

🏆 Barcelona won LaLiga for the 28th time as Lamine Yamal scored a stunning goal and laid on an assist for Fermin Lopez in a 2-0 derby victory over 10-man Espanyol.

Match Report

Barcelona have been crowned champions of LaLiga after a Lamine Yamal-inspired 2-0 win at Espanyol

Two years and one day after Barca secured their most recent league title at the RCDE Stadium, they repeated the trick, having been made to wait for their coronation by Real Madrid's late fightback against Mallorca on Wednesday.

Seventeen-year-old sensation Yamal was the hero, scoring a trademark curler in the 53rd minute then turning provider for Lopez's late clincher.

Yamal's goal came at the ideal time for Barca, after they were forced to survive a wave of Espanyol pressure in the first half, as the hosts looked to secure survival with three points.

Urko Gonzalez broke in behind in the fourth minute but rolled his shot narrowly wide of the bottom-left corner, while Wojciech Szczesny denied Javi Puado from another one-on-one chance.

Hansi Flick's visitors – who had already won the Supercopa de Espana and the Copa del Rey this season – were fortunate to reach half-time level, but they went ahead early in the second half.

After taking in Dani Olmo's routine pass, Yamal darted inside from the right wing, almost reaching the D before he whipped an unstoppable effort beyond Joan Garcia.

Yamal was also involved in the incident that all but ended Espanyol's hopes of a comeback with 10 minutes to play. Defender Leandro Cabrera looked over his shoulder at Yamal before throwing his arm back and striking him in the torso and was sent off after a VAR review. 

Espanyol continued to press for a leveller despite their numerical disadvantage, but five minutes into stoppage time, Yamal showed great awareness to hold onto the ball for a moment before feeding Lopez, who rifled into the bottom-left corner.

Elsewhere, Athletic Bilbao clinched a top-five finish with a 2-0 victory at Getafe, with sixth-placed Real Betis – who drew 2-2 at Rayo Vallecano earlier on Thursday – now unable to catch them.

Gorka Guruzeta and Dani Vivian netted in the final 15 minutes for Athletic, who will play in the Champions League for the first time since 2014-15 next season.

Data debrief: Yamal delivers title glory

Barcelona did not have things all their own way for long periods at the RCDE Stadium, where they had never lost in LaLiga.

Flick's men only had one shot on target in the first half of Thursday's game. Only against Real Sociedad (in November) and Leganes (in April) have they had fewer shots on target in a first half in LaLiga this term (zero in both).

But early in the second half, Yamal – one of the heroes of their Clasico win over Madrid last weekend – stepped up to provide yet another moment of genius.

Yamal has scored three goals from outside the box in all competitions since the start of March. No player from LaLiga has more, with Rayo Vallecano's Pedro Diaz also on three.

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

4' Press from the beginning! Gonzalez makes a shot but miss the target

9' What's going on? Referee calls a pause due to the situation out of the pitch

13' Lewandowski retakes the ball and makes a strike, the ball goes a bit offset

16' Puado dribbles right to the box but his shot is saved by Szczesny

23' Raphinha suddenly opens fire but Joan Garcia makes a quick response

29' Wonderful cooperation from Barca players but it didn't cause any threat

31' Pedri tries a long-range bombshot, the ball goes off

42' Christensen booked yellow for his wrestling move

43' Lewandowski takes a small-angle attempt but fails to hit the target

46' Match Event for Espanyol vs Barcelona

51' Highlight from Espanyol vs Barcelona

53' Yamal breaks the silence with a super stunner! Espanyol 0-1 Barcelona

65' Highlight from Espanyol vs Barcelona

72' Match Event for Espanyol vs Barcelona

74' Match Event for Espanyol vs Barcelona

80' Red Card! Leandro Cabrera sent off

89' Highlight from Espanyol vs Barcelona

95' GOAL! Espanyol 0-2 Barcelona (Fermín López)

Line-ups

Espanyol XI: Cabrera, Pol Lozano, Puado, Exposito, Kumbulla, Joan García, Urko González de Zárate, Antoniu Roca, Omar El Hilali, Roberto Fernández, Carlos Romero

Subs: Gomez, Pacheco, Pere Milla, Tejero, Calero, Álvaro Aguado, Jofre Carreras, Walid Cheddira, Ángel Fortuño, Alejo Veliz, Roger Hinojo

Barcelona XI: Szczesny, Lewandowski, Christensen, Olmo, De Jong, Raphinha, Araujo, Eric Garcia, Pedri, Yamal, Gerard Martín

Subs: Ter Stegen, Pena, Fati, Balde, Casado, Pau Víctor, Pablo Torre, Gavi, Fermín López, Héctor Fort, Cubarsi