By Wisdom Deji-Folutile
Espanyol fans had enough of Barcelona’s celebrations on Sunday night, storming the pitch when the away team began celebrating their 27th La Liga title in the stadium of their city rivals.
Barca, who won the league with four games to spare, were elated after a 4-2 victory against Espanyol, with Lewandowski scoring a double.
The league leaders had begun celebrating their victory in the RCDE Stadium, which the home fans did not appreciate.
After a jeering the Barcelona players for some minutes, Espanyol supporters began to storm the pitch, chasing Xavi’s men and coaching staff back into the dugout.
Barcelona and Espanyol, city rivals, have a highly competitive rivalry fraught with controversy.
Earlier this week, it was reported that Barcelona fans will be denied entry to Espanyol’s RCDE Stadium on Sunday if they wear any items that represent the club’s famous colours.
READ ALSO: Barcelona win 27th Là Liga title after 4-2 win vs Espanyol
The stance from Barca’s local rivals was in direct response to the same measures that the Catalan club made ahead of the reverse fixture in December.
Tonight’s confrontation could also have been exacerbated by Espanyol’s protracted inability to compete vs their local rivals.
Before tonight’s encounter, Espanyol had gone 25 derbies in a row without a win against Barcelona in LaLiga (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.
Barcelona have not lost any of their last 14 away games against Espanyol in LaLiga (W7 D7) since a 1-3 defeat at the Lluís Companys in January 2007. Barcelona are the team that have visited the RCDE Stadium the most times in the competition without losing (G12 W6 D6).
