BARCELONA, Spain (AP) – Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres scored late goals in Barcelona’s 2-1 win over Osasuna on Saturday, giving Hansi Flick’s side a chance to be crowned Spanish league champions this weekend.
After this weekend, Barcelona has increased their lead over Real Madrid to 14 points with four games remaining. Madrid must win against Espanyol on Sunday to prevent Barcelona from winning La Liga for the second time in a row.
If Madrid win, Barcelona will host Madrid in a “Clásico” match, extending the title race by another week.
Substitute Marcus Rashford picked up Lewandowski’s goal, crossed for the striker and fired home a powerful header in the 81st minute.
That led to a series of goals in the final minutes. Torres added Osasuna’s second goal five minutes later, and Raul Garcia headed home one in the 89th minute.
“We put pressure on Madrid,” Torres said.
Between finishing now or finishing with a win against Madrid at Camp Nou, Torres said he would be open to celebrating the title at home on Sunday if Madrid were eliminated at Espanyol.
“For me, I just want to become a champion as soon as possible,” he said. “Then we can start celebrating.”
Flick said his players were “celebrating” in the changing rooms at El Sadar stadium.
“This is a big victory for us,” said the former Bayern Munich manager. He is close to winning the Spanish league for the first time in several seasons.
“Today we did our job and this is what I expect from the team,” Flick said.
Barcelona goalkeeper João Garcia made two important saves in the first half to keep the visitors scoreless. Osasuna striker Ante Budimir also hit the post before half-time. It was only the third defeat in the league this season for Osasuna, who are 10th in Pamplona.
Atletico win before game against Arsenal
Atlético Madrid rested most of their starting XI, but two debutants scored goals to secure a 2-0 win over Valencia and a place in the Champions League final against Arsenal.
Julián Alvarez, Alexander Sorloth and Giuliano Simeone all finished Wednesday’s game. 1-1 draw with Arsenal Despite some dissatisfaction, he was among the players left out of Atlético’s squad for the Spanish league match.
Atlético travel to London for the second leg of the Champions League semi-final on Tuesday.
Coach Diego Simeone called up nine youth team players for the visit to Valencia, with Iker Luque and Miguel Cubo coming on in the second half and scoring in the 73rd and 82nd minutes to help the team win at the Mestalla Stadium.
Atlético defender Nahuel Molina almost scored one of the goals of the season in the first half with a powerful shot from near the midfield circle that crashed into the corner of the frame.
Atlético remain in fourth place and are on track to qualify for next season’s Champions League. Valencia remain in 13th place and could fall into a relegation battle.
coaching milestones
According to Atlético, the game at Valencia was Simeone’s 1,000th game as manager and his 795th with the Spanish club, which he has been in charge of since 2011.
Ernesto Valverde also coached his 500th game with Athletic Bilbao. 4-2 victory over AlavesSpanish winger Nico Williams scored twice.
Both are club records.
“I would like to thank everyone (players, colleagues, club executives, fans) who have cooperated and helped me achieve this figure since I started coaching in 2006,” Simeone wrote in a post on X.
athletic players He was wearing a shirt with his mother’s last name on it. To commemorate Mother’s Day, which takes place on Sunday in Spain,
Villarreal qualify for the Champions League
Villarreal finished in the top four after defeating Levante 5-1, guaranteeing them a place in Europe’s elite club tournament for the second consecutive year.
For third-place Villarreal, Georges Mikautadze scored a double.
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