Barcelona 2-0 Real Madrid: Barça seal La Liga crown with a dominant El Clásico display

Barcelona 2-0 Real Madrid: Barça seal La Liga crown with a dominant El Clásico display

Barca were 2-0 up within 18 minutes and never looked likely to surrender that lead as Madrid suffered the humiliation of allowing their Clasico rivals to become champions via a derby win for the first time ever, marking a fitting end to a dismal week for the club.

In addition to Kylian Mbappe being sidelined, Madrid were also without Federico Valverde after he suffered a head injury in a training-ground clash with Aurelien Tchouameni – though the Frenchman still started after the club opened disciplinary proceedings against him.

And it only took nine minutes for the cracks in Alvaro Arbeloa’s side to be exploited. After Antonio Rudiger brought down Torres on the edge of the box, Rashford whipped a tremendous free-kick into the top corner on Thibaut Courtois’ side of the goal.

It was 2-0 soon afterwards, as Fermin Lopez’s over-the-top pass was brilliantly laid off by Dani Olmo, granting Torres the chance to bury his finish past Courtois.

Gonzalo Garcia passed up a one-v-one chance for Madrid, who were also denied by a last-ditch intervention by Eric Garcia, though Rashford and Olmo both squandered opportunities to put Barca three up before half-time.

Tensions threatened to boil over early in the second half following a clash between Olmo and Raul Asencio, before Courtois made an excellent save with his left foot to deny Torres his brace.

The offside flag quickly went up against Jude Bellingham when he brought down Brahim Diaz’s dinked pass and fired home, and that was as close as Madrid ever came to forcing a nervous finish, with Barca’s players celebrating wildly at the full-time whistle.

It was an emotional triumph for Hansi Flick, who was in the Barca dugout despite his father passing away earlier on Sunday.