A commanding away performance from Real Madrid at RCDE Stadium has forced Barcelona to postpone their La Liga title celebrations — with the decisive moment potentially arriving during next weekend’s El Clasico.
For the Catalan giants, a single point against their fiercest rivals at the Nou Camp would be sufficient to clinch the championship.
Two goals from Vinicius Jr in the second half sealed the three points for the visitors. The Brazilian forward opened the scoring after combining with Goncalo Garcia in a sharp exchange, then added his second by converting a clever backheel from Jude Bellingham.
Earlier in the match, Vinicius came close to breaking the deadlock when his deflected effort rattled the upright.
A potential turning point arose when Omar El Hilali received a red card following a challenge on Vinicius, though the decision was subsequently reversed after a VAR review.
Could El Clasico Rewrite the Record Books?
Throughout La Liga‘s 97-year history, no team has ever clinched the top-flight title in an El Clasico fixture.
By defeating Espanyol, Real Madrid sidestepped an awkward pre-match scenario — the question of whether they would line up to applaud Barcelona as incoming champions.
Barcelona currently hold an 11-point advantage over their rivals and are on course to surpass the all-time record for the largest winning margin, previously set at 15 points during the 2012-13 campaign.
Should the Blaugrana take maximum points from their remaining four fixtures, they would accumulate 100 points — matching the benchmark set by Real Madrid in 2011-12 and equalled by Barcelona themselves the following season.
That tally would simultaneously hand them the outright record for victories in a single La Liga season, standing at 33 wins. Remarkably, the side has suffered just one draw throughout the entire campaign.
For Real Madrid, this represents only the second time since 2009-10 that the club will end a season empty-handed — the other occasion being 2020-21.
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