La Liga leaders Barcelona won a tight and tense 'Clasico' 1-0 at Real Madrid on Saturday, beating their great rivals at their Bernabeu home for the second time in four days and moving a staggering 12 points clear of them in the standings.
Barca's fans held up a mosaic before the game reading "Infinite Iniesta". They later revealed a banner saying "Thanks for so much" in tribute to a player who came through the club's academy and spent 16 years pulling the strings in midfield, winning nine Liga titles, four Champions Leagues and six domestic Cups.
Luis Suarez grabbed a hat-trick and Lionel Messi bagged two goals as Barcelona began their quest for a third straight La Liga title with a 6-2 rout of Real Betis on Saturday. Arda Turan, whose two goals against Sevilla helped Barca lift the Spanish Super Cup on Wednesday, gave them an early lead at the Nou Camp before Ruben Castro equalised in the 21st minute. Barca went back in front thanks to a trademark 37th-minute goal from Messi before Suarez, La Liga's top scorer last season, made it 3-1 before halftime.
The club could also sell other players to in order to create a new contract for Messi, who is the top scorer in La Liga this season with 13 goals.
Barcelona reclaimed second spot in the Primera Liga behind arch-rivals Real Madrid after they maintained their 100 percent record at the Nou Camp with a 2-1 comeback win over Deportivo Coruna on Sunday
Barcelona forward Lionel Messi was back on the training pitch on Thursday as he bids to rid himself of a hamstring injury before Tuesday's Champions League semi-final first leg at Bayern Munich.
Barca's second-half stamina key to their massive lead in the standings this season
After an even first 45 minutes, strikes from Pablo Sarabia and Wissam Ben Yedder stunned the Catalans and left them needing a second-leg comeback at the Nou Camp for the second consecutive round in the competition.
Real Madrid are on the verge of reaching the King's Cup quarter-finals after winning 3-0 at Numancia on Thursday while holders Barcelona still have work to do after being held to a 1-1 draw at Celta Vigo.
Real Madrid and Atletico each slipped 10 points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona after an intense Madrid derby finished goalless and the Catalans picked up an 11th victory in 12 games by winning 3-0 at Leganes.
Barcelona's poor run away to Real Sociedad continued when the champions were held to a 1-1 draw at Anoeta on Sunday and slipped six points behind La Liga leaders Real Madrid before next week's 'Clasico' against their arch rivals.
La Liga has been on hold since March 10 although president Javier Tebas said last week that the league could start up again on either May 29, June 7 or June 28, adding that the games were likely to be held without spectators. But Barcelona coach Quique Setien does not think it is so simple.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Lionel Messi said his side were superior to every team in the league after he scored a hat-trick in Sunday's 4-2 win at Deportivo which clinched the club's 25th Spanish title with four games left in the season.
Barcelona provisionally went top of La Liga for the first time since October after Luis Suarez, Neymar and Lionel Messi scored in a 6-0 thrashing of Alaves on Saturday although the win was overshadowed by a serious injury to Aleix Vidal.
IMAGES from the La Liga matches played on Tuesday
Aritz Aduriz's second half hat-trick sent Barcelona spinning to a shock 4-0 defeat at Athletic Bilbao in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup on Friday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Barcelona striker Luis Suarez has been given a two-match cup ban for using provocative language after their King's Cup last-16 first-leg clash against Espanyol, the Spanish federation said on Friday. At the end of a bad-tempered derby on Wednesday which Barca won 4-1, insults were exchanged by both sets of players in the tunnel after leaving the pitch.
Athletic Bilbao beat Barcelona 4-2 at home to knock them out of the Copa del Rey
Coach Ernesto Valverde and midfielder Sergio Busquets were due to give a news conference before the training session but spoke to the media after training due to their late arrival.
Barcelona thrashed Sporting Gijon 6-1 to go top of La Liga on a dramatic night in Spain on Wednesday as Luis Enrique announced he was stepping down as the Catalan club's coach at the end of the season.
The resumption of the German Bundesliga next weekend amid the COVID-19 crisis will give hope to other European leagues that they can also successfully return, according to Schalke 04 coach David Wagner.
'Robert is an incredible player and he won everything with us. We are incredibly grateful to him.'
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique is leaving the Spanish La Liga champions at the end of the season when his contract expires after three trophy-laden seasons at the club.
Barcelona's march towards the Primera Liga title slowed on Saturday after a goalless draw with bottom-placed side Malaga.
Real Madrid's unbeaten start to the La Liga season came to an abrupt and surprising end as Real Mallorca claimed a stunning 1-0 victory at a rocking Son Moix on Saturday to climb out of the relegation zone.
Luis Suarez picked up a hamstring strain in Tuesday's Champions League match at Bayern Munich.
Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has decried the fans who booed manager Luis Enrique and the players in Sunday's laboured 2-1 home win over Leganes in La Liga as having a short-term memory.
Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez scored twice each as La Liga champions Barcelona turned on the style to hammer Huesca 8-2 on Sunday and join Real Madrid as the only teams in the league to win their opening three games.
Barca coach, Luis Enrique says that all is well at Camp Nou and the team is united.
Luis Suarez has received a second European Golden Shoe of his career after becoming the leading scorer in Europe's top domestic leagues last season.
Barca are also planning to offer new deals to forwards Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, and midfielder Ivan Rakitic before the end of the year.
'Barcelona are super favourites for this game and tomorrow everyone is already convinced that we have to be totally focused as a whole squad'
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Barcelona's preparations for next season were thrown off course on Friday when the Spanish champions unexpectedly announced coach Tito Vilanova was stepping down due to ill health.
It is a scenario few could have foreseen after Real won a Liga and Champions League double last term and began this season so convincingly.
When Barcelona host local rivals Espanyol on Saturday hoping to edge closer to the La Liga title, many may be haunted by Raul Tamudo's 89th minute equaliser which wrecked their title bid in 2006/07.
An early own goal by Luke Shaw, who deflected in a header from Luis Suarez, decided a tight first leg and gave Barca their first victory at Old Trafford in five attempts in European competition.
Lionel Messi created a goal and scored another as Barcelona came from behind to beat struggling Rayo Vallecano 3-1 at home on Saturday and stay seven points clear at the top of La Liga.
Luis Suarez has progressed from his impressive debut La Liga campaign to produce the most prolific season of his career and fire Barcelona to a second straight title, free of the stigma of his ban for biting which accompanied him to Spain in 2014. It was fitting that the Uruguayan should score a hat-trick in the comfortable 3-0 victory at Granada on Saturday to clinch the title, taking his tally to 40 goals in 35 games. He is the first player other than Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to finish as La Liga top scorer since 2009 but his contribution to Barca's title triumph goes beyond his goals and 16 assists. For Suarez is the hardest working of the feted 'MSN' partnership he forms with Messi and Neymar, a trio who have delivered 90 of Barcelona's 112 league goals. He is also the most willing to close down opponents and run into space and, naturally, he has shown himself to be the player who is keenest to throw himself into any physical battle.
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