Hansi Flick insists La Liga title race is far from over despite Barcelona’s derby victory over Espanyol | OneFootball

Hansi Flick refused to declare the La Liga title race is over despite Barcelona’s 4-1 victory against Espanyol on Saturday. 

Real Madrid suffered a damaging 1-1 draw against Girona on Friday, with Thomas Lemar cancelling out Federico Valverde’s second-half goal. 

Barcelona capitalised on Madrid’s draw, as they sealed an emphatic derby victory to increase their lead to nine points.

Ferran Torres struck twice inside the opening 25 minutes. 

Espanyol pulled one back through Pol Lozano early in the second half, but the hosts cruised to a comfortable win after late strikes from Lamine Yamal and Marcus Rashford. 

Despite their dominating lead, Flick has insisted that the title race is far from over. 

He said in his post-match press conference: “It’s a very good lead, nine points. But for me, it’s not finished. We have to do our job. Until it’s decided, we have to show our best.”

Barcelona will now turn their attention to the second leg of their Champions League tie against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday. 

Atletico stunned their league rivals with a 2-0 win at the Camp Nou for the first time since 2006. 

Julian Alvarez scored on the stroke of half-time before Alexander Sorloth added another with a superb finish in the 70th minute. 

Flick’s men face an enormous task in the away leg to overturn the deficit and progress to the semi-finals of the competition. 

Stats from Transfermarkt.