Barcelona maintain respectful tradition with Real Madrid after rivals win title

Real Madrid secured their 35th La Liga title on Saturday with four rounds of action remaining - their four-goal home win over Espanyol meant no side could catch them.

The celebrations went long into the evening in the Spanish capital as the players and management of Los Blancos savoured the triumph with their fanbase. This was the first time they had lifted the trophy at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium since 2007 and sparked wild celebrations across Madrid.

The team's open-top bus celebrations left their stadium with the trophy to parade in front of their fans along the streets and culminating in their arrival at the Plaza de Cibeles in the city. It was the club's second league trophy in three years to help cement the power swing back to the club and away from Barcelona.

The Catalan giants - Madrid's traditional El Clasico rivals - have now gone three seasons without a league title and will finish this season trophyless. The Blaugrana crashed to defeat at home to Eintracht Frankfurt to end their European journey last month and that was followed by home La Liga defeats against lowly Cadiz and Rayo Vallecano, ending their faint hopes of a late surge for the title. Indeed, Barca may yet fall out of the top four places.

That was despite Xavi Hernandez's side claiming a stunning four-goal El Clasico victory in March, which Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has now explained helped his side land the title. Barca defender Gerard Pique sent out a tweet that evening to confidently state "We are back" while Dani Alves claimed that Los Blancos were "lucky" to be ahead of the Blaugrana in the standings.

The back-and-forth comments suggested that the rivalry between the two sides had once again been heating up with players jibes at each other. However, the mutual respect between the clubs at institutional level has once again been highlighted.

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After Real Madrid secured the league title, the official Barcelona Twitter account wrote: "FC Barcelona congratulates Real Madrid on achieving their 35th La Liga title." It is a long-running tradition that the two congratulate clubs other than themselves who win trophies in Spain. Indeed, Madrid publicly stated after Barca's last trophy win, in 2021: "Congratulations to @FCBarcelona and their fans for their deserved Copa del Rey 2021 win. #RealMadrid"

Rodrygo Goes bagged a first half double for Real Madrid against Espanyol on Saturday to put them on course to a comfortable victory to seal the title as Marco Asensio and second half substitute Karim Benzema found the net in the second half.