Play is paused while Espanyol's Nicolas Melamed gets treatment after being caught by Sergio Busquets. Melamed is fine.

Barca left-back Alex Balde beats Oscar Gil with ease but his cross is cut out.

Barcelona's first chance and they go close. Jules Kounde cuts the ball back to Pedri, who sidefoots an effort just far of the far post.

Xavi looks stunned that it hasn't gone in.

We won't see Sergio Busquets roll round on the ground too many more times for Barcelona. But he's doing it here. Oh look he's OK.

Brian Olivan has a bloody nose but can play on after getting some stuff shoved up it.

Barcelona defender Jules Koundde catches Brian Olivan with a stray arm and gets a very early yellow card.

Espanyol have a chance withiin 10 seconds! Actually Joselu is offside as he half-volleys wide so it wouldn't count.

Can Barcelona get the three points they need to win the title?

The La Liga title has been decided in a Barcelona derby once before.

Barca beat Espanyol 2-1 at home on the final day of the 1948-49 season to seal the title.

That was their fourth title. This would be their 27th.

Barcelona coach Xavi hopes their young midfielders Pedri and Gavi can go on to do better than the famous Barca midfield he starred in.

Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets were Barca and Spain's midfield trio for many years - winning multiple trophies for club and country. Busquets is leaving the club at the end of the season, while Iniesta moved to Japan five years ago.

"We are working on forming a new [era]," Xavi said.

"I hope players like Gavi, and Pedri, can even go beyond us, that is life, that is sport. I hope they can surpass us. There's a very good batch, home-grown players and midfielders especially.

"I hope they follow in Busquets' footsteps and can achieve as much success as he has, a new era is beginning."

On Busquets, Xavi said: "He's the best defensive midfielder I've ever seen. Not being nominated for the Ballon d'Or was an injustice."

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Robert Lewandowski has scored 19 goals in 29 games for Barcelona in La Liga.

He could become the joint third fastest player to reach 20 goals in the competition in the 21st century, after Julio Baptista in 2004 (30 matches), Radamel Falcao in 2012 (26) and Cristiano Ronaldo in 2010 (24).

Lewandowski is two ahead of Karim Benzema in the golden boot race.

Barcelona boss Xavi is set to add a La Liga title to the eight he won as a player.

He won a few trophies in Qatar as a manager before coming back to Barca.

"We're at 200%," he said in a mathematical impossibility.

"I'm seeing them train at full pelt with hope, desire and intensity, to win La Liga."

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Espanyol have now gone 25 derbies in a row without a win against Barcelona in La Liga (D7 L18), the worst winless run against an opponent in their top-flight history, and the worst winless streak by any team in any regional derby in the competition.

Atletico Madrid, who started the weekend in second place, lost 1-0 at Elche this afternoon - their first league defeat by those opponents since 1985.

That means they can't catch Barcelona now. Not that they were going to.

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Espanyol's manager is Luis Garcia Fernandez, who was managing Real Madrid's third team in the fifth tier of Spanish football at the start of last month.

The 42-year-old, who played for Espanyol from 2005 until 2011, replaced the sacked Diego Martinez on 4 April.

He had been boss of RSC International, Real Madrid’s C team, since last summer.

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Barcelona are 11 points clear of Real Madrid, who have four games left.

So Barca just need two more points from their remaining five games. A victory today gets the job done with four matches to spare.

The last time Barcelona won La Liga was in 2019.

The last time they won it without Lionel Messi was 1999.

Tonight that could all change. Beat neighbours Espanyol and they are champions of Spain.

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