Barca closer to La Liga title

Barcelona thrashed local rivals Espanyol 5-0 to move to within one win of a 24th La Liga title.

Lionel Messi opened the scoring in the eighth minute with a brilliant free-kick, while Luis Suarez scored twice in the second half to move onto 37 goals for the season, putting him in prime position to collect the Pichichi award for top scorer.

Rafinha delighted the home fans by netting his first goal since returning from a serious knee injury, and then Neymar rounded off the scoring by tapping in Suarez’s low pass.

Barca stay top of La Liga by moving on to 88 points, one ahead of Real Madrid in second and three above Atletico Madrid, who drop out of the title race after losing 2-1 at Levante.

Pre-match coverage was dominated by the memory of former Espanyol forward Raul Tamudo’s late equaliser against Barca in a 2-2 draw in the penultimate game of the 2006-07 season which handed the title to Real Madrid, but history rarely looked like repeating itself when Messi put Barca ahead with a sumptuous …

continue reading in source www.skysports.com