The champagne went cold at Camp Nou.
Ansu Fati lamented the missed goal. PDO
Barcelona could not beat Girona in the Catalan derby. It ended in a goalless draw at their own Camp Nou.
The result will certainly be celebrated more in the northern part of the province, as Girona left the relegation line already eight points behind.
Of course, the draw was not a disaster for the hosts either. Real Madrid suffered a surprise loss to Villarreal on Saturday, so the penalty shootout increased Barça’s league lead to 13 points already with ten rounds to play.
In practice, it is now a matter of at which point Barcelona will secure the 27th championship in the club giant’s history. No one believes that the Blaugrana would waste their point lead like this again.
It was a rarity for Barcelona to remain in the points division, as during the season they had won all their league matches at their home Camp Nou, with the exception of the matches against Espanyol and Rayo Vallecano (both draws).
Although Barcelona are the perennial winners of La Liga, the upcoming league title marks the beginning of a new era. The club’s previous first place came four years ago, so this spring we will be celebrating for the first time since Leo Messi moved to the shirt of PSG.
– Our goal remains the same. We want to win the league and win it as soon as possible, Sergio Busquets said after the match.
The story continues after the picture
Xavi walked nervously in his own technical area. PDO
Messi’s former teammate Xavi at the same time gets his first melt in his coaching hat. Sure, he already has one Qatari league championship in his trophy cabinet, but it’s not much appreciated outside the Persian Gulf.
Cup disappointments
This Barcelona season hasn’t been a big success story either. The team dropped out of both the Champions League and the Europa League far too early, and last week arch-enemy Real Madrid humiliated it with a 0-4 drubbing in the Cup semi-finals.
In the opinion of many, the league championship is coming off because of the unauthorized weak seasons of both Real Madrid and Atlético.
Among the top European leagues, along with Spain, the Italian championship has practically already been tapped. Napoli will grab their third Scudetto in their history as they lead by 16 points with just nine rounds to go.
Napoli’s biggest challenge can be found in the Champions League, where they face AC Milan in the quarter-finals. The Rossoneri combination went to the Diego Armando Maradona stadium just before Easter to grab the mantle of European favorite with a 4-0 away win.
In France, PSG’s lead is only six points ahead of Lens, while in England (Arsenal and Manchester City) and Germany (Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund), the title race is still wide open.