Barcelona 2-0 Real Madrid
Barcelona confirmed themselves as 2025-26 La Liga champions on Sunday with victory in El Clasico at the Spotify Camp Nou.
Hansi Flick, whose father passed away prior to kick-off, made two changes to the side that won at Osasuna last weekend, with Marcus Rashford and Ferran Torres drafted in – and it was the former that struck the first blow in Catalonia, as he curled home a wonderful free-kick from the edge of the penalty area that returning Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois could not get close to.
10 minutes later, it was 2-0. A fine team move was Fermin Lopez play Dani Olmo in behind, and his backheel was perfectly into the path of Torres, who made no mistake to fire beyond Courtois for Barcelona’s second goal of the evening.
Real Madrid tried their best to find an immediate respond to falling two goals behind, and while Vinicius Junior tried his best as usual to threaten, there were few chances created by Alvaro Arbeloa’s side, who were missing the services of injured striker Kylian Mbappe. Rather, it was Barcelona that went closest to scoring the third goal of the game, but Courtois denied Torres his brace with a big stop at close range.
The second half at the Spotify Camp Nou saw very little action, aside from the odd incident where Barcelona and Real Madrid players squared up to each other. In truth, Real Madrid never looked like scoring, with the icing on the cake for the Catalans being another clean sheet that takes goalkeeper Joan Garcia closer to the Zamora Trophy.
Celebrations begin for the champions
Barcelona have been by far the best team in La Liga, and while they were left disappointed to miss out in the Champions League and Copa del Rey, they can be satisfied with their work in the league.
