Vinicius brace puts Barca title celebrations on ice
Real Madrid delayed Barcelona's seemingly inevitable LaLiga coronation, as Vinicius Junior's brace secured a 2-0 win over Espanyol.
Vinicius struck twice in the second half at RCDE Stadium to keep Los Blancos' faint title hopes alive for at least another week, though they will hand it to Barca should they fail to beat the Blaugrana in next weekend's Clasico.
The Brazilian almost opened the scoring in the eighth minute, when his acrobatic volley crashed against the post via a slight deflection off Omar El Hilali.
El Hilali was shown a red card for a rash challenge on Vinicius in the 25th minute, though it was downgraded to a yellow by referee Jesus Gil Manzano following a VAR review.
Andrii Lunin made a superb reflex save to thwart Leandro Cabrera's header in first-half stoppage time. However, it was Madrid who broke the deadlock in the 55th minute, when Vinicius slotted past Marko Dmitrovic after a neat one-two with Gonzalo Garcia.
Vinicius made it 2-0 and ultimately put the game beyond the hosts midway through the second half. Once again, he executed a one-two – this time with Jude Bellingham – before arrowing into the top corner.
