BARCELONA: Barcelona took a major step towards retaining their La Liga title with a 4-1 home victory over city rivals Espanyol on Saturday, moving nine points clear of second-placed Real Madrid.

Ferran Torres struck twice, assisted by Lamine Yamal both times, first with a header from a corner in the 10th minute before doubling the lead in the 25th, racing clear from another Yamal pass.

Espanyol pulled one back in the 56th minute when Pol Lozano fired in a rebound from just inside the box, but Yamal restored control in the 87th on a quick counter, with Marcus Rashford adding a fourth from Frenkie De Jong’s cross.

Barca moved to 79 points with seven games left, while Real lost ground after a 1-1 draw with Girona.

“Its not over until we’ve won the league, but it’s only up to us and that’s a great feeling,” Torres told DAZN. “It was a tough, hard-fought match, the scoreline doesn’t tell the whole story. It was close, some little mistakes almost cost us dearly. But we’re proud of our performance.”

Flick selected a full-strength side despite Tues­day’s Champions League quarter-final, second leg at Atletico Madrid looming, where Barcelona must ove­r­turn a 2-0 first-leg deficit suffered at the Camp Nou.

“Small errors killed us a bit, we have to be proud of the work we did,” said Lozano after the game. “We’re getting better and sooner rather than later the victory will come.”

Espanyol coach Manolo Gonzalez insisted that the scoreline didn’t reflect his side’s performance.

“The final score was too lopsided for the game we saw,” said coach Gonzalez, whose Espanyol remained in 10th. “We had our chances and their first three goals were from our defensive mistakes.”

In Saturday’s late match, Atletico coach Diego Simeone rotated heavily for his team’s visit to face Sevilla to keep players fresh and the Rojiblancos, fourth, fell to a 2-1 defeat.

Akor Adams sent the hosts ahead from the penalty spot and after 20-year-old Atletico reserve defender Javier Bonar levelled, Nemanja Gudelj struck again for Sevilla before the interval.

Atletico have a wide 12-point cushion on Real Betis, fifth, who visit Osasuna in their next fixture.

The victory was important for Sevilla, with the Andalusians climbing out of the relegation zone and up to 15th. Elsewhere on Saturday, Elche escaped the danger zone and leapfrogged Valencia with a 1-0 win thanks to a goal by Lucas Cepeda.

Deportivo Alaves striker Lucas Boye struck late in stoppage time to complete a 3-3 draw at Real Sociedad.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2026