Barcelona clinch 27th LA Liga title after 4-2 win over Espanyol

Barcelona’s risky bet to mortg club’s future paid off Sunday — in short term at least — when a team led by newcomer Robert Lewandowski clinched its first Spanish league title in four years.

Barcelona won its 27th league title, second to Real Madrid’s 35, with four rounds remaining after a 4-2 win at Espanyol with a pair of goals by Lewandowski.

w club can finally start a new chapter after winning its first major title since painful exit of Lionel Messi two years ago.

Here is how Barcelona led league since 13th round, brushing aside an arguably more talented Real Madrid side and giving Atletico Madrid chance of catching up.

WIN W, PAY LATER?

When club president Joan Laporta, man who first hired Pep Guardiola nearly 15 years ago, returned for a second stint in charge near end of 2019-2020 season, he found a club in ruins .

financial situation of club with 1.3 billion euros ($1.4 billion) of debt meant Laporta could t hor his pledge to convince Messi to stay . Instead, Laporta told Barcelona's greatest player that he had to leave because club could t afford him.

So last season, after seeing team win zero titles, Laporta and his board decided it was time for drastic action. y sold off 25% of its Spanish league TV rights for next 25 years for 667 million euros ($725 million) along with or assets.

That cash was used to revamp squad with transfers of Lewandowski, Jules Koundé, Raphinha and signing free nts Franck Kessie, Andreas Christensen and Marcos Alonso.

Even though Barcelona once again flopped in Champions League group phase, in addition to losing to Manchester United early in Europa League playoffs, it did put Barcelona back in contention in Spanish league.

LEWANDOWSKI

Lewandowski showed that former Bayern Munich star still has ability to regularly find holes in rival defenses when given just a sliver of .

34-year-old Lewandowski had trouble at all adapting to his new team after eight highly successful seasons with Bayern. Poland striker leads Spanish league with 21 goals.

Raphinha added seven goals while sharing playing time with Ousmane Dembélé, who scored six times in league before being injured for several weeks.

TER STEGEN

After a couple of years where German appeared to have lost his best form, Marc-Andre ter Stegen was back to playing like goalkeeper that helped Barcelona win its last Champions League title back in 2015.

While Madrid leads league in scoring with 70 goals, Barcelona needed just 64 goals to win title thanks to its great defense that conceded a competition-low 13 goals.

Ter Stegen kept 25 clean sheets.

backline was led by Ronald Araújo, who ensured that Barcelona did t miss midseason retirement of Gerard Piqué. Araújo was Barcelona’s best one-on-one defender, especially against Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior in ir “clasico” matches.

BRIGHT FUTURE

best news for Barcelona is that its future seems secure after continued growth of its youngest starters.

Midfielders Gavi Páez (18) and Pedri González (20) have won past two Golden Boy awards for Europe’s best under-21 players, while Alejandro Balde (19) displaced long-time starter Jordi Alba as Xavi’s preferred option at left back this season.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Barcelona faces an uncertain off-season, even without considering possibility that Messi turns down more lucrative offers – say from Saudi Arabia – and returns from Paris Saint-Germain.

club was barely able to meet Spanish league’s strict financial control rules last season in time to register all its players, and some more long nights loom for Barcelona’s bookkeepers.

club still needs to reduce its salary burden, and that means it may have to sell players.

It would t be surprising to see club have to consider offers for Raphinha and Dembélé, who both play as right wingers, striker Ansu Fati, or even midfielder Frenkie de Jong, who club wanted to sell last summer.

It will also have to find a replacement for sports director Mateu Alemany, one of main architects of Barcelona’s rebuild last season, after his surprising decision anunced earlier this month that he was quitting.

Among its pressing needs on squad is how to replace longtime holding midfielder Sergio Busquets, who anunced last week that he will leave club this summer .

Next season team and its fans will have to adapt to playing at a smaller stadium while Camp u is revated. Beyond lower ticket sales, temporary move will also test Barcelona's home strength: Camp u seats 98,000, compared to 56,000 at Olympic Stadium.