BARCELONA (Reuters) - Barcelona underlined their hegemony of Spanish football by clinching the La Liga title with three games to spare after Lionel Messi came off the bench to fire them to a 1-0 win over Levante on Saturday in front of a 91,000-strong Nou Camp crowd. Barca's dominance of Spanish soccer has been so pronounced that newspaper Marca recently described their vice-like grip on La Liga as "a dictatorship", adding that "the domestic competition has become Barcelona's comfort zone". After dropping points in five of their opening 12 games, Barca went on a relentless run after the Betis loss, winning 18 of their next 23 matches to get their hands on the trophy. "Winning La Liga gives you satisfaction because it tells you over time who is the best over the whole season," said Barca coach Valverde. "La Liga is our daily bread, it consumes you from August to May and we really appreciate what we have achieved because we have had to come through some difficult moments."

Source: The Star April 27, 2019 21:38 UTC