Barcelona moved nine points clear of rivals Real Madrid at the top of La Liga with a comfortable win over Espanyol in the Catalan derby.
Ferran Torres rose highest to head home Lamine Yamal’s corner at the back post after nine minutes to open the scoring.
The former Manchester City forward then got his, and Barcelona’s, second goal in the 25th minute as he latched on to a pass with the outside of the boot from Lamine Yamal and got in front of Espanyol goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic to guide a finish into the net.
At the age of 18 years and 272 days, Lamine Yamal became the club’s youngest player to reach 100 appearances and showed his importance once more with the two assists.
Despite struggling to gain possession during the match, Espanyol replied in the 56th minute when Pol Lozano was in the right place in the box to hammer home after Barca defender Eric Garcia had made a block.
Fernando Calero also sent a header wide from Ramon Terrats’ corner, but the visitors were unable to find an equaliser.
Barcelona rallied again for a strong finish and found the net twice in two minutes to settle the outcome as Lamine Yamal slotted into an empty net and England forward Marcus Rashford came off the bench to hook an 89th-minute volley into the bottom corner.
With seven games left in La Liga and Real Madrid struggling, Hansi Flick’s side are on course to retain their title.
But Barca will now turn their attention to the second leg of their Champions League tie against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday (20:00 GMT), where they will need to come from two goals down if they are to progress.
Espanyol have now failed to win in 14 consecutive La Liga matches (D5 L9) but remarkably remain 10th in the table.
BBC
