Granada 0-3 Barcelona: Luis Suarez hat-trick inspires Luis Enrique's side to second La Liga title in a row
- Luis Suarez scores hat-trick as Barcelona secure second successive La Liga title with win away at Granada
- Uruguayan scores his 60th goal of the season for club and country as Barca claim 24th league trophy in their history
- Catalan giants needed to win to claim the title with Real Madrid securing victory away at Deportivo La Coruna
Luis Suarez won Barcelona this title. Not just with his hat-trick against Granada, which sealed their 24th La Liga triumph, but with 40 league goals across a superhuman season.
An incredible 14 of those have come in his last five games, helping drag his team out of their rut and keep one point clear of Madrid as the Spanish title race ended in a sprint finish.
Barcelona earned 91 points to Real Madrid’s 90, with Suarez winning the Pichichi award, given to the division’s top
goalscorer—he is the first player to win it since 2009 not called Lionel or Cristiano.
Barcelona head back to Catalonia having been advised not to hold a parade on Saturday night for security reasons, with an event now arranged for Sunday instead. In a way it feels fitting, given this league should have been won weeks ago but was dragged out until the final week.
Losing three league matches in a row for the first time since 2003 meant in April their season seemed to be crumbling away, especially added to their painful elimination from the Champions League by Atletico Madrid blocking the chance of a double-treble.
There were ugly scenes at the end, as thousands of fans invaded the pitch and the players had to fight their way off. It was something of a metaphor for the title race—it should have been Barcelona’s party but were forced to share the stage.
Twenty-one tense minutes ticked by at the Estadio Nuevo los Carmenes before Suarez burst Granada's bubble.
Pique had a header clawed out, Messi had a drive from the edge of the box tipped over, and Neymar skewed a lob over the crossbar.
The Brazilian was in the wars, with Ruben Perez stamping on his ankle in the first minute and Miguel Lopes following suit when Neymar dared try his luck on the other side of the pitch.
The MSN trio now have 130, up from 122 in total last year, and they still have the Copa del Rey final to go. If Barcelona complete their double, seeing the two Madrid teams fight it out in Milan for the Champions League will hurt a little less.
‘We were on top for a lot of weeks’ said a jubilant and slightly relieved Luis Enrique on Saturday night.
The Barça manager has now won five trophies in his first two seasons and he can make that six if his team wins next weekend’s Spanish Cup final against Sevilla.
‘The most consistent team wins the title and I am just happy for everyone connected with the club; we had to suffer a bit but we did it,’ he said.
‘We set out at the start of the season to win all the trophies but that is something nobody had ever done. Sometimes people think not winning one is a disaster. But we know how difficult it is to win trophies. We will celebrate this and try to win the cup.’
Barcelona face Sevilla in next week’s Spanish Cup final but on Sunday they will parade the trophy through the streets of the city.
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