There might be three matchdays left to go before the end of the season, but Barça didn’t want to wait too long to claim the La Liga title this season.
They took a 1-0 home victory against Levante yesterday to wrap up their eighth Spanish title in the past eleven seasons.
This unprecedented run of success, which dates back to the beginning of Pep Guardiola’s run as Barcelona’s head coach, is unprecedented in the history of the Spanish first division.
Barcelona, knowing that they had the first leg of their Champions League semifinal matchup against Liverpool looming on Wednesday, started with a conservative lineup against 15th-place Levante at the Camp Nou. Leo Messi started the game on the bench, as did other stars such as Sergio Busquets.
After going to the dressing rooms tied 0-0 at halftime, Barça coach Ernesto Valverde decided to substitute on Lionel Messi, which changed everything.
Barcelona’s world-class forward and the favorite for this edition of the Ballon d’Or scored a goal past Levante keeper Oier Oyarzabal in only his 17th minute in the pitch after putting two Levante defenders in a pretzel.
That was enough for Barcelona, which kept Levante off of the board for the final stretch of the game and wrapped up a 1-0 victory to claim their title.
Barcelona will be back in action on Wednesday at the Camp Nou in a massive game against Liverpool.
