, April 12 -- Barcelona strengthened their grip at the top of La Liga, moving nine points ahead of rivals Real Madrid with a convincing victory over Espanyol in the Catalan derby.

Ferran Torres opened the scoring early, heading in a corner from Lamine Yamal at the back post in the ninth minute. He doubled the lead in the 25th minute, finishing neatly after collecting a clever outside-of-the-boot pass from Yamal.

Yamal, aged just 18 years and 272 days, became Barcelona's youngest player to reach 100 appearances and once again proved his value by providing both assists.

Espanyol struggled to keep possession but managed to pull one back in the 56th minute when Pol Lozano scored from close range after a block by Barcelona defender Eric Gar...