Barcelona Thrash Espanyol 4-1 to Go Nine Points Clear at Top of La Liga After Real Madrid Slip Against Girona

Madrid: FC Barcelona moved nine points clear at the top of La Liga after a 4-1 home win over Espanyol in a Catalan derby and Real Madrid’s 1-1 draw at home to Girona.

Ferran Torres scored the opening goal for Barcelona, who looked to recover from its UEFA Champions League defeat to Atletico Madrid, with a header from a corner after just nine minutes to end his scoring drought dating back to January 31. He then doubled the lead after Lamine Yamal delivered an audacious pass with the outside of his foot in the 25th minute.

Torres was denied a hat-trick after a very tight offside against Eric Garcia in the second half, just moments before Pol Lozano’s shot from the edge of the penalty area gave Espanyol hopes of a point.

Frenkie de Jong returned after injury with eight minutes left to play, and four minutes later Yamal made the win safe for Barcelona, as he raced onto a through ball from Marc Casado before beating Espanyol goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic.

Marcus Rashford made it 4-1 two minutes later when he hooked home a volley after Barcelona caught Espanyol flat-footed on the break.

Atletico Madrid, which beat Barcelona in midweek, made sweeping changes to the lineup for its visit to Sevilla and suffered a 2-1 defeat against a side that kicked off the game in the bottom three.

Elche climbed out of the bottom three with a 1-0 home win over Valencia thanks to Lucas Cepeda’s 73rd-minute goal. IANS

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