La Masia pearls give Barça a new League

Sant Adrià de Besòs"The extraordinary thing is that it seems normal." With this motto, Barça celebrated the men's league in the 2018-19 season. The team then led by Ernesto Valverde had just won their eighth league title in eleven seasons. At that time, the first women's team only had four league titles to their name. Since then, the Blaugranas have been crowned champions of the state competition every season and now have eleven league titles. The last one, this Wednesday after winning 1-4 on Espanyol's ground. With more than ten points clear of Real Madrid, and with four matchdays left to finish the competition, Barça already has the second trophy of the season in their trophy cabinet, after the Spanish Super Cup.

Pere Romeu has set his sights on the Champions League semi-finals. On Saturday at 6:15 PM, the Catalan team will play the first leg at the Allianz Arena. The coach has presented a starting eleven full of rotations – with Alexia, Patri, Ona, Mapi, Pina, and Pajor, among others, on the bench – in which Rosalía Domínguez has enjoyed her first start with the first team of the blaugrana. Pere Romeu continues to pull aces out of his sleeve, and has debuted a new player who has shown great promise in her first minutes in Liga F.

Despite the rotations, Barça came out with very clear ideas and the objective of securing the championship title. Only two minutes had passed when Carla Julià – with a past at blanquiazul – surprised everyone with the first goal of the match after a great play by Graham Hansen, who found the Barcelona full-back alone on the left wing. The dominance was blaugrana, but nothing can be celebrated until it's in the bag and well secured. A lesson that Espanyol has taken it upon themselves to remind them of. Amidst the shouts and support of the perica fans, Browne provoked a penalty – committed by Marta Torrejón – and Laia Ballesté took charge of converting it to equalize the match.

But the joy has once again been short-lived at the Dani Jarque Sports City. Practically on the next play, Clara Serrajordi invented a pass to overcome two lines of pressure and combine with Graham Hansen, who did not falter against Romane Salvador. Espanyol, bravely, insisted on getting close to Cata Coll's goal – with two chances for Browne saved by the Balearic goalkeeper – but the sentence came from Barça. New action down the left wing by Carla Julià – very insistent throughout the match – to connect with Martine Fenger, who has scored again for the second consecutive match.

A 'cordial' celebration

With the match already decided, Pere Romeu has begun to activate players for Saturday's match in Munich. Alexia Putellas, Claudia Pina, and Patri Guijarro – who the club initially announced would be out with an ankle sprain – have come on to get some game time before the Champions League tie. There was still time to celebrate another goal after a new cross from Carla Julià, which Fenger finished to score her third goal with the blaugrana jersey.

Barça has dominated the national scene in the last seven seasons: seven Leagues, five Queen's Cups (with the option to win a sixth on May 16 against Atlético de Madrid) and six Spanish Super Cups. During this period, the azulgranas have only lost two national titles. Pere Romeu wins his second League, and Alexia Putellas already has ten in her record. On the other hand, Laia Aleixandri, Adriana Ranera, Aïcha Camara, Carla Julià, Martine Fenger, Rosalía Domínguez, Laia Martret, Ainoa Gómez and María Llorella have won their first League. Clara Serrajordi, for her part, wins her second, as she had minutes last season.

Once the championship title has been certified, the Barça players have celebrated it on the pitch. After waiting for the first blanquiazules fans to leave, the azulgranas headed to a corner of the field where some infiltrated culé fans were present to have a "calm and cordial" celebration, as described by Sara Monforte, Espanyol's coach. "Things have to be celebrated, because in this life nothing is easy, but this Thursday we will have a new video session to prepare for the match against Bayern," added Pere Romeu.