Xavi Hernández is familiar with the feeling of winning titles with Barcelona – having won 8 in total along with silverware for numerous other competitions – but this time it’s as the boss not as a player. Xavi has been heralded with bringing in a new dawn for a club that has not been without its woes in recent years. All of that was forgotten on Sunday when they secured their place as champions for the 2022-23 season with a win making them an uncatchable 14 points clear of bitter rivals Real Madrid in second place.
It will have felt even more special to have guaranteed their title win at the RCDE Stadium, home of their city rivals Espanyol. An entertaining display – with a brace from Lewandowski and goals from Balde and Koundé for Barcelona, and goals from Javi Puado and Joselu for Espanyol – ended 4-2 to the away side followed by crowd trouble after home fans took to the pitch to chase away the celebrating Barça players. Espanyol sadly continue to fight to stay above the relegation zone after struggling throughout the season. Their next match sees them travel to play Rayo Vallecano on Sunday (KO 13:00).
Barcelona will get to celebrate their title win on Saturday when they host Real Sociedad at Camp Nou (KO 20:00). It is apt that this may well be the final celebration at the iconic stadium in its current state. Due to the condition of the venue, a redevelopment has been on the cards for many years now, and finally, this summer, renovation will begin. While the work goes ahead, FC Barcelona will play their home matches at Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Montjuïc.
Sadly, winning the league will do little to help the club’s ongoing financial concerns. It looks as if Barcelona will have to sell rather than buy players this summer to meet the Financial Fair Play rules, while their popular director of football Mateu Alemany announced his sudden departure from the club. Recent disruption between Ligue 1’s PSG and Lionel Messi gave many Barça fans hope that their hero would return to his home for the twilight years of his career, however, such a move would mean the Spanish club would no doubt have to lose some key players to be able to pay his wage bill.
In the final matches of the season, there is still much to be decided including the places for the various European competitions and the 2 teams to be relegated along with Elche. Meanwhile, due to the intense competition in the Segunda División, we are yet to discover any of the 3 teams to have guaranteed their promotion to the country’s top league.