Barcelona Wins Spanish League Title, Peak of Hansi Flick's Brilliant Season

BARCELONA, FRIDAY — Barcelona has officially been crowned as the champion of La Liga after defeating their city rivals, Espanyol, 2-0, in the Catalan Derby at the RCDE Stadium, Friday (16/5/2025) early morning WIB. The "Blaugrana" successfully overturned predictions made at the beginning of the season that favored Real Madrid to win the title. Three domestic trophies also stand as evidence of the skilled work of coach Hansi Flick.

Although this is his first season managing Barca, Flick did not take long to achieve success. Bringing an attacking philosophy based on a high defensive line, which is completely different from the ball possession style characteristic of Barca, Flick has proven that his approach can also lead to success.

Before securing three domestic titles, namely the Spanish Super Cup, the Copa del Rey, and La Liga, Barcelona nearly clinched the UEFA Champions League. However, their progress was halted by Inter Milan in the semifinals.

Barca should have been able to secure the La Liga trophy if Real Madrid had lost to Real Mallorca the day before. However, Barca's title celebration was delayed due to a last-minute winning goal by Jacobo Ramon, which led Real to a 2-1 victory. The certainty of the trophy for Barca now rests in their own hands, provided they win the Catalan Derby against Espanyol.

Everything did not go smoothly for Barca. Espanyol, which needed additional points to distance itself from the relegation zone, defended very solidly. The two pivots of Espanyol, Pol Lozano and Urko Gonzalez, who played in a 4-2-3-1 formation, performed brilliantly in protecting the four defenders from the onslaught of Barca's attackers. Throughout the match, Barca players dominated with 75 percent possession and took four shots on goal.

The number of shots from Barca could have been even higher, but the Espanyol defenders did not allow Barca's attacking line, which included Lamine Yamal, Robert Lewandowski, Dani Olmo, and Rapinha, to comfortably control the ball in the final third.

The score remained intact until the halftime break. Barca struggled to score in the second half. However, they had Yamal, who is skilled at playing in tight spaces. With his adept dribbling, Yamal deceived the Espanyol defender and then took a curling shot from outside the penalty area. Yamal's strike successfully gave Barca the lead and placed one hand on the championship trophy.

"During the warm-up session earlier, Yamal also scored two goals in the same manner. We are fortunate to have a player like him," said Barca midfielder, Pedri.

After falling behind, Espanyol attempted to respond by increasing the intensity of their attacks. However, Espanyol's offensive efforts often faltered due to Barcelona's high defensive line. The Espanyol players were caught offside up to five times.

Barca gained an upper hand as Fermin Lopez scored the second goal in stoppage time. Until the end of the match, Espanyol failed to score and disrupt Barca's momentum. The score of 2-0 held until the final whistle, securing the 29th La Liga title for the "Blaugrana."

The chaos at Barca under coach Xavi Hernandez last season did not make them the favorites for the championship. At the beginning of the season, Real was heavily favored to dominate Spain with a probability of 86 percent. Meanwhile, the predictions at the start of the season indicated that Barca had only a 10.3 percent chance of becoming champions.

Moreover, Barca appointed Flick as the replacement for Xavi. Throughout its history, there have not been many German coaches who have won La Liga. The only German coach to have done so is Bernd Schuster with Real during the 2007-2008 season.

However, Flick turned all those predictions around with his cool demeanor. Flick's revolutionary and bold approach, by implementing an attacking style based on a high defensive line, ultimately overturned the forecasts. Real, reinforced by megastar Kylian Mbappe, found themselves empty-handed, failing to win a single trophy this season.

"We are mentally strong. After the break, we have come back stronger because we took the opportunity to work hard. We won the Super Cup, which gives us more confidence to navigate this season," said Flick.

Flick's success was built without the luxury of a star-studded squad. In the early season transfer market, Barca only brought in Olmo as the most expensive player. Instead, Flick relied heavily on graduates from the La Masia academy such as Yamal, Marc Casado, and Pau Cubarsi. Barca even had to release several players like Vitor Rogue and Ilkay Guendogan to avoid violating the league's financial regulations.

Unexpectedly, without being equipped with a luxurious squad, Flick was able to bring Barca to glory in Spain.