Lamine Yamal clinched the championship with a stunning goal and an assist. Cabrera assaulted him and was sent off. Fermín sealed the Blaugrana victory.
Barcelona’s worst performance of the season ended up sealing a LaLiga title to remember. It was a strange game, with Espanyol the better team for long stretches. But Barça had something their rivals didn’t: a genius with a superpower named Lamine Yamal. He appeared only in flashes, but that was enough to decide a championship. He scored a goal that should be put in a museum, was blatantly assaulted by Cabrera—who left his team a man down in frustration—and later delivered the assist that allowed Fermín to bury the game at 0–2 and hand the title to Flick’s side. The Barça squad had to sprint to the dressing room under a hail of shoves from the home team, who stayed on the pitch to celebrate… something. Exactly what is unclear, beyond a spirited match that leaves them just two points above relegation.
Barcelona and Espanyol fans anticipating the post match fall out
The build-up to the match was like putting your pants on before your underwear. The city of Barcelona woke up talking not about the game itself, but about how one team would celebrate the title and how the other would react. It seemed like both fanbases were more interested in the postgame drama than the match. Flick, for his part, had said over and over again in the lead-up: “It’s not a good idea to think about celebrating.” Turns out, he was completely right, though it’s not like they got much of a chance anyway.
That sense of anticipation probably wasn’t shared by the managers, who both put out the best lineups they could, given the absences they were dealing with. Flick already knew he wouldn’t have Iñigo Martínez due to suspension. Then, on the day before the game, Ferran Torres was ruled out with appendicitis, and Cubarsí had to abandon training after a knock from Lewandowski—who, despite not being fully fit, returned to the starting XI, hoping to close the gap on Mbappé in the race for the Pichichi top scorer title.
Espanyol boss Manolo González went all in, starting the core of the side that had sparked the team’s revival in the second half of the season. Pol Lozano returned—a key player for the home side—while Král, still nursing an injury, wasn’t even on the bench.
Pressure from Espanyol
If there’s one thing Espanyol can never be accused of lacking, it’s intensity—and they brought more of it than usual. In the first half, they won nearly every individual duel, forcing Barça’s most technically gifted players into sloppy touches and poor passes.
That pressure translated into real chances. Manolo had already shown in the reverse fixture at Montjuïc that he’d figured out how to break Barça’s offside trap by pushing midfield runners beyond the line. Espanyol stuck to that strategy, and just four minutes in, Urko broke through but sent his shot wide. At the 15-minute mark, Puedo had a clear chance too, but Szczesny came up big for Barça.
As for Barça, there was little to report. And Lamine Yamal? Nothing in the first half. But in the second, he owned the spotlight. Raphinha and Pedri tried from distance, but the attack looked stale, and the backline kept struggling against Espanyol’s bursts of pace.
Even after Balde came on in the second half, the pattern stayed the same. Araújo went off injured, and Cubarsí came in to steady the ship a bit, but the match remained wide open—until Lamine stepped in and changed everything with a moment of genius that not even Joan García could stop.
Lamine, again
But even at 0–1, Barça didn’t fully control the match. Not even after Cabrera lost it and attacked Lamine Yamal, leaving his team down to ten men. Espanyol’s energy didn’t drop—in fact, if anything, it looked like Barça were the ones a man down, still losing every duel.
Until, once again, Lamine rubbed the lamp—and Fermín slammed the door shut on LaLiga.
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