MADRID (AP) — Vinícius Júnior scored two second-half goals and Real Madrid beat Espanyol 2-0 to keep Barcelona from clinching its second straight Spanish league title on Sunday.
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 “clásico” 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 Álvaro 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 Vinícius 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 Vinícius 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.
Other games
Rayo Vallecano prepared for its Conference League semifinal against Strasbourg with a 2-0 win at Getafe.
Rayo coach Iñigo Pérez was able to rest many of his first-choice players with the Conference League semifinal second leg on Thursday in mind. Rayo won the first leg 1-0 at home.
Sergio Camello and Randy Nteka scored in each half for the visitors, while Rayo goalkeeper Augusto Batalla also saved a penalty, to lift the team from the Madrid district of Vallecas to 11th ahead of the rest of the round.
Celta Viga boosted its hopes of European qualification with a 3-1 win at home over Elche that left the promoted team among a host of clubs still in danger of relegation.
Celta moved above Getafe into sixth.
Also Sunday, Cucho Hernández opened and concluded the scoring for fifth-place Real Betis in a 3-0 win at home over last-place Oviedo, a result that left the visitors on the verge of relegation.
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AP Sports Writer Ciarán Fahey contributed to this report.
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