Madrid, May 4: Vinicius Junior scored two second-half goals and Real Madrid beat Espanyol 2-0 to keep Barcelona from clinching its second straight Spanish league title.
Barcelona beat Osasuna 2-1 on Saturday to open a 14-point gap over Madrid entering Sunday’s matches. Anything but a win by Madrid against Barcelona’s city rival would have allowed the Catalan club to celebrate its 29th league title this weekend.
Barcelona will have a chance to clinch the title next weekend when it hosts Madrid in a “clasico” at the Camp Nou.
Barcelona’s lead stayed at 11 points heading into the final four rounds of La Liga.
“We have a big game against a great rival and they have been playing well,” Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa said. “It’s a special game for the fans, for us. We are going to rest and prepare well for it.” Sunday’s result kept Espanyol winless in 17 consecutive games this year, with 10 losses. It sits in 13th place, five points from the relegation zone.
It was a hard-fought match until Vinicius broke the deadlock in the 55th minute after a nice fake move to get past a couple of Espanyol defenders inside the area. The Brazil forward added to the lead in the 66th with a shot into the top corner after a beautiful back-heel set up by Jude Bellingham.
Espanyol defender Omar El Hilali was shown a straight red card for a foul on Vinicius in the first half but the call was changed to a yellow card after video review.
Madrid lost left back Ferland Mendy 10 minutes into the match because of an apparent muscle injury.
Rayo Vallecano prepared for its Conference League semifinal against Strasbourg with a 2-0 win at Getafe. (AP)
