BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Lamine Yamal secured Barcelona’s 4-1 win over Espanyol after setting up Ferran Torres for a double and the La Liga leaders took another step toward retaining the title on Saturday.
Yamal passed for Ferran to score in the 10th and 25th minutes before the teenage phenom ensured the victory in the 87th with Espanyol threatening to equalize. Marcus Rashford made it four for the hosts at Camp Nou in the 89th.
Barcelona capitalized on Real Madrid’s 1-1 draw at home to Girona on Friday to increase its lead to nine points with seven rounds remaining.
Barcelona and Madrid will try to overcome losses in the Champions League quarterfinals in their next games after Barcelona lost to Atletico Madrid 2-0 and Madrid fell to Bayern Munich 2-1 this week.
While Madrid will travel to Germany on a three-game winless streak, Barcelona’s attack is clicking as it heads to Spain’s capital needing a big win to advance to the European semifinals.
Barcelona’s fans chanted “Yes we can!” after the match with its team playing at Atletico on Tuesday.
“The team is in a good place. We’ll be ready. We want to go there and fight Atlético,” Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said. “We don’t need a miracle. We need to play our best football.”
Barcelona’s best play is coming from the 18-year-old Yamal, who leads the team both in goals (22) and assists (18) across all competitions this season.
Yamal also picked up another record for precociousness after he became the youngest player to reach 100 appearances in La Liga at 18 years, 272 days. That beat the previous mark of Bojan Krkic who played his 100th game at age 20.
Yamal’s other records include youngest player to debut and to score in La Liga.
Ferran ends drought
Ferran started the season in good form, scoring 16 goals among more starts than aging star Robert Lewandowski. While lacking the clinical scoring touch of the Poland striker, Ferran provided more movement, speed and linked up well with Yamal and his midfielders.
But Ferran then hit a slump and had not scored since Jan. 31.
His goalless run stretched across 13 games in all competitions and finally ended on Saturday when Yamal delivered a corner kick to the far post where Ferran leapt over Carlos Romero and nodded it home.
Ferran celebrated by gesturing with his hands as if they were talking, apparently in reference to the talk in the sports press and social media about his scoring troubles.
He made it a brace when he used a subtle touch to roll a pass by Yamal under on-rushing goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic.
“A forward is always judged by the goals he scores,” Ferran said. “It is true I hadn’t scored in some time but I believed in my efforts and that the payoff would come when least expected.”
Espanyol makes Barcelona fight
Espanyol midfielder Pol Lozano put the result in doubt when he used one touch to fire in a rebound of a loose ball to make it 2-1 in the 56th.
But Yamal finished off the Catalan derby when Dmitrovic tried to clear a long pass but ended up knocking it off Yamal, who only had to push the ball into the open net.
“The final score was too lopsided for the game we saw,” said coach Manolo González, whose Espanyol remained in 10th. “We had our chances and their first three goals were from our defensive mistakes.”
Rashford got his goal when he was set up by fellow substitute Frenkie de Jong, who made his first appearance in over a month after the Netherlands midfielder recovered from a right leg injury.
Atletico rotates starters and loses
An Atletico side with several second-choice players and member of its youth squad lost 2-1 at Sevilla, which moved away from the relegation zone with its first win under new coach Luis García.
Akor Adams and Nemanja Gudelj scored for Sevilla. Atletico defender Javier Boñar scored in his debut at age 20.
Other results
Elche escaped the danger zone and leapfrogged Valencia with a 1-0 win thanks to a goal by Lucas Cepeda.
Alaves striker Lucas Boyé struck late in stoppage time to complete a 3-3 draw at Real Sociedad.
In this round the referees and some teams wore throwback shirts as part of a “La Liga Retro” promotion.
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