The Camp Nou hosted a derby that ended with a blaugrana thrashing and half a League in the bag. The celebration on the pitch was justified, even if Pol Lozano and other Espanyol players didn't seem to agree. The culé players sang and jumped near the cheering stand, which has once again livened up the matches in the stadium after many months of punishment.

Not even the most optimistic culers would have predicted at the start of the season that Barça would be nine points ahead of Madrid with only seven matchdays left in the League. The blaugrana lead is highly commendable, considering the long-term injuries of key players, the team's youth, and the historical proportion of players who have come up from La Masia and fill the lineups every week. Economic necessity forced them to look for sporting virtue at home, and indeed, Barça has found it.

While Barça sealed the league by winning the derby, its Champions League rival, Atlètic de Madrid, lost in Seville with a team full of substitutes and youth players from the academy. With seven matchdays left in the championship, Simeone's team is exactly 22 points behind the leader, but the coach did not seem disheartened. "I have a plan and I will not deviate," he warned.

Barça is now close to winning the League with a nine-point lead over Real Madrid after beating Espanyol (4-1) in a derby in which the white-and-blues did not give up despite the good first half from the blaugranas. Below are the hot takes from the derby.

Barça is now touching the League, with a nine-point lead over Real Madrid after beating Espanyol (4-1) in a derby in which the white and blue team did not stop fighting despite the good first half from the blaugranas. Below are the immediate reactions from the derby.

Joy comes in waves. Barça already feels like La Liga champions and Espanyol is pulling its hair out, unable to win a single match this year. Some are already preparing the street celebrations and others are looking with some concern at the relegation zone, lest they end up suffering. In a derby marked by the awakening of Ferran Torres, who had been dormant for months, Barça did its homework and left Madrid far behind in the standings. Very far. 9 points behind, which seems like a world. The difference between Barça and Espanyol is also huge, although Manolo's team managed to compete in the second half, in which they managed to cause some concern for Barça. If the first half was blue and red, in the second Lamine Yamal and Rashford sealed the rout of a team that had suffered a little; not much, but had suffered.

Although Joan Laporta will not begin his presidential term until July 1, Barça is functioning under his parameters and trusted individuals. In this context, this Friday the club has internally formalized significant changes in the communication department. Two professionals who had considerable influence on the team in recent years are leaving. On one hand, Ignasi Castelló, who leaves the Barça club after more than three years as head of the corporate branch. He was a choice of Laporta's second term's first communications director, Àlex Santos, who also left Camp Nou a few months ago. The other name disappearing from the organizational chart is Ricard Franco, who in recent months had lost responsibilities in the sports division. He had been working at the entity since 2017.

Andreas Christensen's umpteenth injury led to an unexpected move in Barça's winter market. Hansi Flick was short of a center-back, and with the Blaugrana entity limited in its movements because it was – and continues to be – exceeding the salary limit, the Dane's long-term absence opened up the possibility of strengthening. The options that had Hansi Flick's approval were limited, but Jorge Mendes, always well-connected with Deco – he was his agent when he was a footballer – and with Joan Laporta – they maintain a close relationship –, facilitated a solution: João Cancelo. For the super-agent it was a win-win: he continued to offer solutions to Barça and, at the same time, brought his client out of obscurity, who had declared himself in rebellion in Saudi Arabia and longed to return to Barcelona, where he had already played on loan for the Blaugrana in the 2023-24 season.

Barça put in the heart and football, but a cowardly Atlético de Madrid knew how to get oil from their visit to the Camp Nou (0-2). With two goals in barely three shots on target, the Colchoneros punished a blaugrana team that had to play the entire second half with one less player due to Pau Cubarsí's expulsion in the 43rd minute. The fans flocked to the stadium en masse, hopeful and excited about a group of players who have often made them happy with comebacks and thrashings, but this time the outcome was very cruel.

Barça continues to advance towards winning La Liga F after a 6-0 thrashing of Badalona with goals from Salma Paralluelo from a penalty, Marta Torrejón, Sydney Schertenleib, Esmee Brugts, Mapi León, and Martine Fenger after a great start to the second half to seal the match. The Blaugranas could celebrate the title in a few weeks if they win at Espanyol's ground – time yet to be confirmed – or by default if Real Madrid does not earn three points against DUX Logroño.

After the departure of Iñigo Martínez, Hansi Flick lost much more than a starter and a fundamental piece for his footballing idea: he was left without a left-footed centre-back. The absence of the defender from Ondarroa was particularly noticeable in the first part of the season, when the team left many doubts in defence. Pau Cubarsí, who began to establish himself with Xavi Hernández and was confirmed as an undisputed starter with Hansi Flick, was one of the first to notice it: forced to change his profile in the centre, it was not the same to have Iñigo Martínez as Ronald Araujo as his dancing partner. Finally, the solution the German coach ended up finding was to convert Gerard Martín into a centre-back. The experiment, previously tested in training, was transferred for the first time to a match on November 22nd, which coincided with the return to Camp Nou and ended with a resounding and comfortable 4-0 victory over Athletic Club.

Barça has La Liga within their grasp. In a very tough match against Atlético de Madrid, the Barcelona players secured three golden points that extend their lead over Real Madrid to seven in the standings with eight matchdays remaining. Here are some immediate thoughts.

“It’s not just about the money, it’s about time and growth”. This is the reflection made by Pau Quesada, technician of Real Madrid, after conceding the 6-0 at Camp Nou. Barça once again demonstrated why it is a benchmark team and one we can be proud of, as Alexia Putellas described after the match. “I feel that we are all moving in the same direction: fans, team, and club”, added the captain. The blaugranes filled Camp Nou with 60,067 people, the best attendance since returning to the stadium. The attendance against Real Madrid surpassed the 56,812 spectators who had gathered ten days earlier to watch Barça - Rayo Vallecano (1-0).

Barça can now start putting the bottles in the fridge to have them nice and cold for when it's time to celebrate. The first episode of the trilogy of duels against Atlético de Madrid served to hit the waterline of two Madrid teams at once. Lewandowski's saving goal sinks Real Madrid in the standings and, incidentally, harms an Atlético that has already understood that Barça wants to win everything just before the Champions League duel. The Whites look up and find it hard to see an indomitable Barça that knew how to react before halftime, when it seemed they could also lose. The competitive gene of this team is beyond debate. A team that faces challenges and overcomes them. It seems there is nothing to scare a team destined to win the League after winning a match that, at times, seemed like it would end in a draw in a second half where there was no energy left in the players' legs.

"I know that [the chants] were directed at the opposing team [Egypt], but as a Muslim person, it is still a lack of respect and something intolerable [...]. To those who sing these things: using religion as a mockery leaves you as ignorant and racist people," published the Barça star and pillar of Luis de la Fuente's team on his social media on Wednesday. On Tuesday, after the match against Egypt and the globally shameful scene that occurred in the confrontation against the North African team, the footballer left the Espanyol stadium with his head down and without greeting the local fans. Afterwards, he passed through the mixed zone hastily, absorbed, looking at his mobile phone, barely wanting to look up to see the press who were interviewing some of his teammates. Lamine Yamal was restless.

Words are running out to describe this team. The Barça women's team has once again made history, both on and off the field. Pere Romeu's squad has gathered 60,067 people at the Camp Nou – an absolute record since returning to the stadium, for both men's and women's teams –, Alexia Putellas has reached 500 matches with the blaugrana jersey and, on the field, has once again thrashed – and crucified – Real Madrid, for the third time in a week. 6-0 at the end of 90 minutes in Barcelona and 12-2 on aggregate in the tie. Barça advances with a firm step to the semifinals for the eighth consecutive season and will face Bayern Munich.

“Alexia is Barça”. That is how Irene Paredes and Patri Guijarro – two of the captains – summarize Alexia Putellas. Almost 5,000 days after wearing the Barça jersey for the first time, the Mollet native has once again made history at the Camp Nou, where she has reached 500 games in the blaugrana shirt. This is yet another example of what a key player represents in the growth of the Catalan club. When Alexia debuted with Barça on August 24, 2012 – after playing for Espanyol and Levante to grow and establish herself in the First Division –, Barça had not yet played any Champions League matches, had just won their first league title – now they are on their way to their eleventh – and only had two Cups in their trophy cabinet – on May 16th, they could lift their twelfth.

The permission that Barça has given Raphinha to disconnect in Porto Alegre after getting injured with the canarinha is surprising because it deviates from the usual script. Although it is easy to empathize with the boy's emotional setback, it is very jarring that a player who has repeatedly torn his hamstring starts his recovery far from the Sports City. Especially if we consider that the medical services of the club that pays him have not yet been able to examine him.

It is not expected that any director, executive or technician of Barça will openly admit to having made a mistake in the renovation of the Camp Nou. However, internally the club knows perfectly well that they made a mistake with the first tier and that a solution must be found imminently to fix the visibility problems. The provisional measure involves blocking the sale of the first rows of seats. But this is just a band-aid. That's why there is some urgency to correct the visibility problems that have become evident since the reopening.

This Monday, 45,000 tickets had already been sold for the second leg of the Women's Champions League quarter-finals to be played at the Camp Nou. The figure is spectacular considering that Barça thrashed Real Madrid 2-6 in the first leg and that the match is played in the middle of Easter week, but it is clear that the culé fans have taken the match as a celebration at the expense, of course, of Madrid.