CORNELLÀ DE LLOBREGAT, Spain: A stunning Lamine Yamal strike helped crown Barcelona La Liga champions with a 2-0 win at local rivals Espanyol on Thursday, with victory ensuring Real Madrid cannot catch them at the top of the table. Yamal’s effort and Fermin Lopez’s goal took Hansi Flick’s side seven points clear of Los Blancos with two matches remaining, to clinch Barcelona’s 28th title and complete a superb domestic treble. Only the Champions League escaped an exciting young Barca side this season, as they won the league for the second time in six years, at Espanyol’s ground again just as in 2023. Back then, celebrating Barca players were chased from the field by angry home supporters but this time Espanyol turned on the sprinklers to soak the jubilant visitors, who headed down the tunnel quickly. Yamal opened the scoring after 53 minutes of a tense derby clash with a brilliant curling effort, before Lopez added another in the 95th minute to secure victory. Outside the stadium before the match several Espanyol fans were hit by a car which drove into a big crowd, although none were seriously injured and police said it appeared to be an accident. Barcelona were seconds away from sealing their title triumph on Wednesday but Real Madrid snatched a 95th-minute winner against Mallorca to delay the inevitable. Flick’s side started slowly in Cornella, with Espanyol, 16th, looking dangerous on the counter-attack and keen to secure their top-flight survival. Wojciech Szczesny made a fine save to deny Javi Puado who broke through on goal in Espanyol’s best chance of the opening period. Barca dominated the ball but failed to create any clear opportunities themselves in the first half. The Catalan giants have often blown teams away
