Barcelona protects its La Liga lead with a narrow win at Leganes

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona eked out a 1-0 win after an own goal from relegation-threatened Leganes on Saturday to protect its lead in the Spanish league.

Raphinha, Barcelona’s breakout player of the season and the Champions League’s leading scorer, came through again for Hasni Flick's team in attack – and defense.

Raphina's dangerous cross was turned into the net by Leganes defender Jorge Sáenz for the game's only goal in the 48th minute. The Brazil forward then showed hustle when he disrupted a promising pass for Leganes’ top scorer, Daniel Rabaseda, late in the first half.

The hard-earned win extended Barcelona's lead to seven points over Real Madrid before the titleholders visit Alaves on Sunday. After this weekend there are seven rounds left, including a “clasico” next month.

“These games are where leagues are won,” Barcelona’s Éric García said. “It was a night to put the pressure (on Madrid).”

Leganes shocked Barcelona 1-0 in December, during a dip in form by the Catalan club. But since the start of 2025, Barcelona has now gone 24 games without a loss and is in the running for a treble of titles including the Copa del Rey, where it has set up a final against Madrid.

“To win this match was very important,” Flick said. “I am really proud about my team. What they are doing the last weeks and months is incredible.”

Barcelona kept up is momentum before it visits Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday aiming to make good on its 4-0 first-leg win in their Champions League quarterfinal.

Sáenz’s error spoiled an otherwise strong performance from the southern Madrid side, which generated more scoring chances than the front-runners.

Like their first match this season, Leganes’ five-man backline frustrated the lauded attack of Robert Lewandowski, Lamine Yamal and Raphinha at Butarque Stadium.

At the other end, Barcelona struggled with the counterattacks led by Rabaseda.

Alejandro Balde left with an apparent leg problem in the first half. But his replacement, Gerard Martín, helped decide the match when he stole a ball and sparked the quick attack that finished with Sáenz's own goal.

Flick said that Balde “was not so good” but added that the team would have to wait to see what Sunday's medical exam of the player determined to see if he would available for the return leg in Dortmund.

Far from rolling over, Leganes continued to threaten. Substitute Diego García sliced a shot just by the far post, and Íñigo Martínez had to disrupt a good scoring chance by Munir El Haddadi in injury time.

Martínez said his slide to strip the ball from the Leganes striker “feels like scoring a goal, or even better.”

Leganes was left in 19th and two points from safety.

“We leave with our hands empty after having played well against a Barca that wasn’t as effective as usual,” Leganes defender Renato Tapia said.

Espanyol striker Roberto Fernández, who arrived on loan from Braga in the winter market, scored two goals to lead a 2-0 win at Celta Vigo.

Joan García, who leads the league in saves, added another superb stop to his collection this campaign when he stretched to palm a curler by Iago Aspas over the bar with the visitors up 1-0.

Coach Manolo González has turned a modest Espanyol side around with just two losses in its last 12 league games, a run that includes a win over Madrid and a draw with Atletico Madrid. The win in Vigo let Espanyol move into 14th.

Cyle Larin and Sergi Darder scored as Mallorca beat Real Sociedad 2-0 in San Sebastian. Mallorca leapt over Sociedad into eighth as both fight for a European berth.

Las Palmas also got its first victory of the year, a 3-1 win at Getafe.

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Barcelona's Pau Cubarsi, left, Leganes' Munir El Haddadi challenge for the ball during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Barcelona at the Butarque stadium in Leganes, outside Madrid, Spain, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Barcelona's players celebrate after the Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Barcelona at the Butarque stadium in Leganes, outside Madrid, Spain, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Barcelona's Raphinha looks on during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Barcelona at the Butarque stadium in Leganes, outside Madrid, Spain, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Barcelona's Lamine Yamal looks on during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Barcelona at the Butarque stadium in Leganes, outside Madrid, Spain, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski looks on during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Barcelona at the Butarque stadium in Leganes, outside Madrid, Spain, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Barcelona's Jules Kounde, centre, challenges for the ball with Leganes' Sergio Gonzalez, right, and Renato Tapia, second from right, during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Barcelona at the Butarque stadium in Leganes, outside Madrid, Spain, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Barcelona's Jules Kounde, right, and Leganes' Juan Cruz challenge for the ball during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Barcelona at the Butarque stadium in Leganes, outside Madrid, Spain, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Barcelona's Lamine Yamal, left, and Leganes' Javi Hernandez challenge for the ball during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Barcelona at the Butarque stadium in Leganes, outside Madrid, Spain, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — An independent counsel on Tuesday demanded a death sentence for former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on rebellion charges in connection with his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024.

Removed from office last April, Yoon faces eight trials over various criminal charges related to his martial law debacle and other scandals related to his time in office. Charges that he directed a rebellion are the most significant ones.

Independent counsel Cho Eun-suk’s team requested the Seoul Central District Court to sentence Yoon to death, according to the court.

The Seoul court is expected to deliver a verdict on Yoon in February. Experts say the court likely will sentence him to life in prison. South Korea hasn't executed anyone since 1997.

Yoon was scheduled to make remarks at Tuesday's hearing. He has maintained that his decree was a desperate yet peaceful attempt to raise public awareness about what he considered the danger of the liberal opposition Democratic Party, which used its legislative majority to obstruct his agenda. He called the opposition-controlled parliament “a den of criminals” and “anti-state forces.”

Yoon’s decree, the first of its kind in more than 40 years in South Korea, brought armed troops into Seoul streets to encircle the assembly and enter election offices. That evoked traumatic memories of dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s, when military-backed rulers used martial law and other emergency decrees to station soldiers and armored vehicles in public places to suppress pro-democracy protests.

On the night of Yoon's martial law declaration, thousands of people rushed to the National Assembly to object to the decree and demand his resignation in dramatic scenes. Enough lawmakers, including even those in Yoon’s ruling party, managed to enter an assembly hall to vote down the decree.

Observers described Yoon’s action as political suicide. Parliament impeached him and sent the case to the Constitutional Court, which ruled to dismiss him as president.

It was a spectacular downfall for Yoon, a former star prosecutor who won South Korea’s presidency in 2022, a year after entering politics.

Lee Jae Myung, a former Democratic Party leader who led Yoon's impeachment bid, became president by winning a snap election last June. After taking office, Lee appointed three independent counsels to delve into allegations involving Yoon, his wife and associates.

There had been speculation that Yoon resorted to martial law to protect his wife, Kim Keon Hee, from potential corruption investigations. But in wrapping up a six-month investigation last month, independent counsel Cho’s team concluded that Yoon plotted for over a year to impose martial law to eliminate his political rivals and monopolize power.

Yoon’s decree and ensuing power vacuum plunged South Korea into political turmoil, halted the country’s high-level diplomacy and rattled its financial markets.

Yoon’s earlier vows to fight attempts to impeach and arrest him deepened the country’s political divide. In January last year, he became the country’s first sitting president to be detained.

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs outside of Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

FILE - Then South Korea's ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol who is facing charges of orchestrating a rebellion when he declared martial law on Dec. 3, arrives to attend his trial at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, Pool, File)