Espanyol v Barcelona: La Liga – live | La Liga
Key events
Spanish football news this weekend.
Marco Asensio’s goal earned Real Madrid a 1-0 victory over lowly Getafe in La Liga as they rested key players before their Champions League semi-final against Manchester City on Wednesday. The win lifted Real to 71 points, two ahead of Atlético who play at bottom side Elche on Sunday but 11 behind leaders Barcelona.
Meanwhile Real have lost a €400m (£350m) court battle with the Abu Dhabi sovereign investor Mubadala over the proposed sponsorship of the Santiago Bernabéu, sources with knowledge of the case have told Reuters.
Madrid had claimed the money because it said Mubadala had failed to honour a sponsorship deal under which it would acquire rights to name the stadium for 20 years. An arbitral tribunal under the court of international trade in Paris has ruled that delays and changes in the redevelopment of the ground meant the sponsorship deal had expired, the source told Reuters.
On the last of the giants, Sergio Busquets, by Sid Lowe.
Those lineups in non social-media form.
Espanyol (5-3-2): Pacheco; Gil, Montes, Gomez, Cabrera, Olivan; Suarez, Darder, Nico; Braithwaite, Joselu
Barcelona (4-3-3): Ter Stegen; Kounde, Araujo, Christensen, Balde; F de Jong, Busquets, Pedri; Raphinha, Lewandowski, Gavi
The teams
Preamble
What a place to win the Liga title for Barça who have dominated the league this season despite their Champions League and financial/admin issues. A first title since Lionel Messi can be celebrated tonight, and seems a fait accompli even if they lose their local derby. The changing of the guard that a club being asked to wash its face financially continues, with Sergio Busquets announcing this week he will be walking away from the club he helped define – Saudi Arabia is the expected destination. Asked to make swingeing cuts to their budget and yet to sort out their backstage disarray, this could be the last title for a while, unless Xavi is the genius manager he was always expected to be, and his young team can grow together. That talk is for post-match; let’s see if they complete the job tonight. Another prize on offer tonight is the possibility to send Espanyol down to the Segunda; they’re currently four points shy of safety.