Barcelona will look to take another step toward successfully defending its Spanish league title when it hosts struggling Espanyol in a derby on Saturday.
The title looks like it’s Barcelona’s to lose with eight games left. Hansi Flick’s side holds a seven-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, which hosts a resurgent Girona on Friday.
“We know that each game is important,” Madrid coach Álvaro Arbeloa said Thursday. “We have a smaller margin of error now.”
Both powerhouses will be tempted to rotate their lineups and prioritize next week’s Champions League games when they will have to pull off comebacks on the road to reach the European semifinals.
Barcelona must turn around a 2-0 loss to Atletico Madrid when it visits the Spanish capital on Tuesday, a day before Madrid travels to play Bayern Munich after losing 2-1 to the German side.
Key matches
The last time Barcelona played Espanyol in
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