Yamal key for Barcelona while Bayern break Bundesliga record
by AFP · The42LAMINE YAMAL SET up two goals and scored another as Barcelona took a significant step towards defending their La Liga title with a 4-1 derby win over Espanyol on Saturday.
Ferran Torres netted twice with Yamal and Marcus Rashford finding the net late on as the Catalans moved nine points clear of second-placed rivals Real Madrid.
Real drew 1-1 against Girona on Friday and with seven games remaining, one of which is a Clasico at Camp Nou in May, Hansi Flick’s side have a commanding lead.
Barca face Atletico Madrid on Tuesday in the Champions League quarter-finals, aiming to fight back from a 2-0 first-leg defeat, but the coach still picked a strong side against Espanyol.
Midfielder Pedri Gonzalez and 18-year-old winger Yamal played the full match as Flick tried not to let the second leg disrupt the team’s league campaign.
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In Germany Bayern Munich romped to a 5-0 win at St Pauli on Saturday, breaking a 54-year Bundesliga goalscoring record and moving to within touching distance of a 35th league crown.
Leon Goretzka’s 53rd-minute goal, Bayern’s second of the match, brought up 102 league goals this season, breaking a previous mark set by the Bavarian giants in 1971-72.
The longstanding record was set by a team that featured club legends Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Mueller and Uli Hoeness.
Top scorer Harry Kane was left on the bench but Jamal Musiala, Michael Olise, Nicolas Jackson and Raphael Guerreiro joined Goretzka on the scoresheet as Bayern pulled 12 points clear of Borussia Dortmund, who lost to Bayer Leverkusen earlier on Saturday.
With five matches remaining this season, defending champions Bayern can win the title as early as next week at home against Stuttgart.
Mindful of Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final second leg against Real Madrid, Bayern also started with Luis Diaz, Dayot Upamecano and Jonathan Tah among the substitutes.
In Italy AC Milan relinquished any remaining hope of winning the Serie A title on Saturday after falling to a shock 3-0 home defeat by Udinese, while Juventus beat Atalanta 1-0 to move into the Champions League positions.
A Davide Bartesaghi own goal and Jurgen Ekkelenkamp’s glancing header in the first half, and Arthur Atta’s superb low finish in the 71st minute, left Milan nine points behind Inter Milan ahead of the league leaders’ clash at Como on Sunday.
With six matches remaining in their season, even an Inter loss at Como would leave third-placed Milan with a near-impossible gap to close.
And a Como win would not be good news either as the lakeside outfit currently sit fifth and five points behind Milan, who have lost three of four matches since winning last month’s Milan derby, after Juve moved provisionally fourth.
Milan host Juve in a fortnight, a match which looks likely to be key to the top-four positions come May.