Barcelona win La Liga championship with impenetrable defense

Barcelona have become La Liga’s champion once again in four years. Barcelona won an away match of La Liga’s 2022-2023 season against Espanyol on Monday, with Robert Lewandowski scoring multiple goals. Barcelona achieved the winning points of 85 (27 wins, four ties, and three losses) with the latest win and widened the gap with Real Madrid in second position to 14 points, which confirmed the team’s league championship regardless of the results of the remaining four matches. This is the team’s first championship win since the 2018-2019 season and its 27th league win so far. It is also the first win since Lionel Messi left for Paris Saint-Germain in the French Ligue 1 in August 2021. The last time the team won the championship without Messi was the 1998-1999 season.

Lewandowski, who scored his 20th and 21st season goals during the game, put a wider gap against Karim Benzema in second position with 17 goals, solidifying his chance to become the season's top scorer.

Xavi, who became the manager of Barcelona in November 2021, became the team's first manager to experience championships both as a player and a manager. He played for the team for 17 seasons and won the league championship eight times. The main contributor to the team’s win was its impenetrable defense. Barcelona only allowed 13 goals during 34 matches. It is the only team that allowed less than 20 goals among 20 teams in La Liga, as well as five European leagues, this season. The team did not lose any goal in 25 out of 34 matches. It will likely break the record of the fewest goals allowed during a season in La Liga, which Atlético de Madrid currently holds in the 2015-2016 season with 18 lost goals.


Dong-Wook Kim creating@donga.com