Barcelona sealed its second straight Spanish league title and 29th overall with a comfortable 2-0 win over Real Madrid at Camp Nou on Sunday, extending its insurmountable 14-point lead with three rounds remaining in La Liga.
Goals by Marcus Rashford in the ninth minute and Ferran Torres in the 18th gave Barcelona the victory, while coach Hansi Flick was in the dugout following the death of his father, which the club announced hours before kickoff.
Match Details
Rashford opened the scoring with a wonderfully taken free kick, curling the ball over the wall and into the top corner. Torres added to the lead from inside the area after a flick from Dani Olmo.
Players from both teams wore black armbands and there was a moment of silence before kickoff. A draw would also have been enough for Barcelona to seal its third league title in four seasons.
There was a brief scuffle between players in the 51st minute after Olmo confronted a Madrid player. Jude Bellingham had a goal disallowed for offside in the 63rd.
Flick's Emotional Day
"I will never forget this day. It was a tough day for me. It starts with this (news that) my father passed away, but here, my team is fantastic," Flick said after the match.
"I really love it, this is like a family and they gave everything today and I'm really proud. It's amazing, in this stadium, and also in the clasico against Real Madrid, to win La Liga."
Barcelona has been playing the final league games without the injured Lamine Yamal, its biggest star. Yamal was on the field lifting the trophy along with his teammates.
Madrid's Troubled Season
Madrid was without the injured Kylian Mbappé, the league's leading scorer with 24 goals. The France forward failed to recover from a left hamstring ailment that has kept him sidelined since late April.
Mbappé last week addressed a fresh wave of criticism in Spain, insisting he was fully committed to the club and to recovering from his latest injury. Some Madrid fans had expressed concern that the France forward was saving himself for the upcoming World Cup.
The club was also without Federico Valverde, who hurt his head in an altercation with Aurélien Tchouaméni during training last week after allegedly accidentally knocking his head on a table. Both players were fined 500,000 euros ($589,000) each.
Madrid, which remains the most successful club in the league with 36 trophies, is ending a second consecutive season without a major title.
Arbeloa Under Pressure
The loss is likely to increase criticism of coach Álvaro Arbeloa, who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Xabi Alonso was fired in January.
"There's not a lot we can say. We understand how frustrated and dissatisfied the fans must be. The only thing we can do is work and look to the future, learn from everything that we have done badly this year," Arbeloa said.
"Real Madrid is always back. We have fallen many times and we will come back again."