Six defining moments from Barcelona’s La Liga title triumph | OneFootball

Barcelona could not have hoped for a better season under a new manager, and it is safe to say that Hansi Flick and Co. have surpassed all expectations.

The Blaugrana sealed their La Liga title last week at the RCDE Stadium after a 2-0 win over Espanyol with an all-round performance spearheaded by Lamine Yamal.

The win completed the Catalans’ journey to the title after what has been a long and exhausting title race in Spain. After all, the road to success was not straightforward and the campaign had its fair share of twists and turns.

Barça Universal brings you six such moments from Barcelona’s season that defined their journey to the league title.

Seven past Valladolid: Unleashing the beast

The match that set the ball rolling. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

Hansi Flick began his official journey with Barcelona with an opening game at Mestalla where Robert Lewandowski scored a brace to hand the team a 2-1 win in their first game of the season.

The coming game saw the Catalans keep up their good run of form and take home wins, but it took a while before their first convincing win on the scoreboard popped up.

After winning three successive games by a narrow one-goal lead, it was against Real Valladolid in late August that Barcelona showed the world the goalscoring machines that they are.

They put seven goals past the now-relegated team with Ferran Torres, Dani Olmo, Raphinha, Jules Kounde, and Robert Lewandowski all getting on the scoreboard. From that point on, Barcelona’s forward line was difficult to control.

Following the 7-0 win, the Catalans began winning games with sizeable margins, and it was clearly the point when their attack truly opened and unlocked its complete potential.

4-0 win at the Bernabeu: The announcement to the world

Bossing the Bernabeu. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

The first Clasico of the season came amid great hype, with Flick’s in-form Barcelona seen as the relative underdogs against Carlo Ancelotti’s experiences and UEFA Champions League-winning Real Madrid who had just signed Kylian Mbappe.

The game arrived immediately after a famous win over Bayern Munich and the Catalans were seen to be on a good spell of momentum heading into the game. Yet, Los Blancos were expected to give them a real run for their money.

It was only after the game began, however, that the world saw for the first time how seriously dominant Barcelona were over their arch-rivals. 1, 2, 3, 4 – it really was that simple for the Catalans as all three forwards scored wonderful goals.

For those who had not taken notice yet, the first Clasico win of the season was an announcement of what this Barcelona team is capable of. Little did anyone know it was just the first of four such wins in the season.

The November-December rut

The low point of the season came in November. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

Just when Barcelona appeared to be cruising to the lead in La Liga, November arrived, and with it came a rut that Barcelona would see as the lowest point in their season.

For a period of close to seven weeks, the Catalans appeared simply clueless, fatigued and it looked as if they had run themselves into the ground.

From pundits claiming that their high line had been decoded to others blaming the high intensity of the system as a non-sustainable one, Barcelona came under serious pressure and lost the lead in La Liga.

It all began with the 1-0 defeat to Real Sociedad which was immediately followed by a draw to Celta Vigo where Barcelona gave up a 2-0 lead in the final ten minutes.

They then lost to Las Palmas, drew against Real Betis, and lost once more against Leganes and Atletico Madrid. All in all, Barcelona dropped 16 of 21 possible points and allowed their rivals to generate a gap at the top.

Defeat to Atletico Madrid: The point of inflection

The loss to Atletico was a bitter pill to swallow. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

The final game of 2024 saw Barcelona take on Atletico Madrid at Montjuic and the Catalans were utterly dominant on the night.

Throughout the game, Barcelona looked to be the team in control, and with the chances as Los Rojiblancos were severely held back and did not get any freedom barring a few counterattacks.

Having taken the lead via Pedri in the 30th minute, Barcelona conceded a 60th-minute equalizer to a Rodrigo de Paul strike.

Just when it seemed like a draw was the most probable outcome, however, Alexander Sorloth scored in the 96th minute to hand Diego Simeone his first-ever win over Barcelona away against the Catalans.

That game, while painful, served as a point of inflection for the team for they did not lose a single game in the league after that for over five months.

Kings of mentality: Comeback win over Atletico Madrid

A comeback for the ages. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

Barcelona began 2025 in the strongest manner possible and were simply unplayable in Spain.

While most wins were comfortable and with a massive lead, they were forced to churn out tight wins over the likes of Deportivo Alaves and Rayo Vallecano and were even held to a couple of draws.

The reverse game against Atletico Madrid, however, will be remembered for a long time to come for the sheer mental fortitude the team showed. In many ways, it was the game that showed that Barcelona had the required grit to make it all the way.

Alexander Sorloth netted Atletico Madrid’s second goal in the 70th minute at the Riyadh Metropolitano but then began incessant waves of Barcelona attacks as the team simply refused to bend down.

Two goals in six minutes from Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres gave Barcelona enough to level the scores at 2-2.

Lamine Yamal and Torres then scored in stoppage time to take home a 4-2 win and three vital points in the league and helped them complete a comeback that instilled serious belief internally in the team’s abilities.

Remontada against the comeback kings: The final hurdle

The final nail in the coffin. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

Barcelona’s flying form in 2025 took them past Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid once more on the leaderboard. After a short slump, however, Los Blancos once again began churning out wins to stay alive in the race.

The Clasico earlier this month, thus, became crucial as a possible league-defining game. A win for Barcelona would seal the title in their favour while a Real Madrid win would throw the race wide open with just one point separating the two sides.

Barcelona went 2-0 down quickly on the evening, and considering that they were just coming off a heartbreaking defeat in Milan, many expected them to collapse once more.

Flick’s men, however, gave Real Madrid a taste of their own medicine and scored four goals past them before the end of the first half to complete the comeback.

They were far superior to Los Blancos and would have won with a much larger margin if not for the scandalous refereeing, but the win eventually took Barcelona to within two points of the title and all but sealed the race.