Barcelona solidified its lead in Spain's La Liga by defeating Espanyol 2-0 away in the 19th round, which was partially played this Saturday. Meanwhile, Villarreal defeated Elche 3-1, also away, while Celta de Vigo thrashed Valencia 4-1. Osasuna drew 1-1 with Athletic Bilbao in the other matches of the day, according to the Argentine News Agency. At the Cornellà-El Prat stadium, the leader Barcelona once again showed character, defeating Espanyol 2-0 in the clásico and now has a seven-point lead over its runner-up, Real Madrid, who face Betis this Sunday. Despite their dominance, the Blaugrana could only secure the result in the last five minutes, thanks to goals from Dani Olmo and Polish striker Robert Lewandowski. At the same time, the defeat ended Espanyol's good run, which still sees them in the European qualification spots. Likewise, Villarreal strengthened its hold on third place by defeating Elche 3-1 away, with goals from Alberto Moleiro, Georgian Georges Mikautadze, and Alfonso Pedraza, while Portuguese Neto scored the consolation goal. In Vigo, Celta showed no mercy to Valencia, thrashing them 4-1 with two goals from Borja Iglesias, another from Jonas El Abdellaoui, and Hugo Álvarez. Meanwhile, Pepelu scored the honor goal for the visitors. In Pamplona, Osasuna took the lead in the Basque derby against Athletic Bilbao with a goal from Raúl García, but the visitors reacted in the second half and equalized through Gorka Guruzeta. In any case, both teams are currently in the middle of the table, far from the main protagonists.
