Barcelona wins the derby and touches the coronation

Barcelona won the derby against its neighbor Espanyol 4-1, on Saturday, in the 31st round of the Spanish Football League, moving one step closer to preserving its title, after widening the gap with its chaser Real Madrid, the runner-up, to nine points seven stages before the end, benefiting from the latter’s 1-1 draw against its guest Girona on Friday.

Barcelona's goals were scored by Ferran Torres (10th and 25th), Lamine Jamal (87th), and English substitute Marcus Rashford (89th), while Paul Lozano scored Espanyol's only goal (56th).

By achieving the seventh consecutive victory in La Liga, Barcelona raised its score to 79 points in the lead, thus enhancing its hopes of winning the title for the 29th time in its history.

He also gained an important morale boost three days before facing Atletico Madrid in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, as he seeks to turn the tables and achieve a “remontada” that will enable him to grab a pass to the semi-finals, after losing the first leg at home 0-2.

On the other hand, Espanyol's balance froze at 38 points in tenth place, bringing the winless streak to 14 consecutive matches, with nine defeats and five draws since the beginning of 2026.

Espanyol also failed to achieve victory over its neighbor for the first time since 2009, in the 17th consecutive match in all competitions, suffering 16 defeats and one draw.

Torres opened the scoring early with a header from inside the penalty area after a corner kick from the right side executed by Lamine Jamal (10).

Espanyol tried to respond quickly, but Quique Garcia's right-footed shot from the outskirts of the penalty area was blocked by Joan Garcia (13).

Torres added the second goal with a low shot with his right from the right side inside the area, after a perfect decisive pass from Gamal, after which he put him alone in front of the goal (25).

Serbian goalkeeper Marko Dimitrovic saved his goal from the third goal, by brilliantly blocking two strong shots from Eric Garcia from outside the area (40) and Fermin Lopes from close range (40).

Espanyol reduced the difference with a Lozano-directed shot from inside the area that landed in the left corner (56).

Dimitrovic saved his goal on two occasions in front of substitutes Rashford and Portuguese Joao Cancelo in the 66th and 69th minutes, respectively.