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Soccer on TV: FC Barcelona returns from coronavirus shutdown

FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi walks on the field during a match.
Spain’s La Liga restarted its season Thursday, and Lionel Messi and FC Barcelona will play Mallorca in their first game back since the coronavirus shutdown.
(Alex Caparros / Getty Images)
By Kevin Baxter
Staff WriterFollow
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Spain’s La Liga, which suspended its season because of the COVID-19 outbreak on March 10, returned to the pitch Thursday with Sevilla beating Real Betis 2-0 in an empty stadium in the first game of what will be a sprint to the finish, with the league’s 20 teams playing 99 games over 32 consecutive days.

Play continues this weekend with league leader Barcelona (18-5-4) traveling to Mallorca (7-16-4) on Saturday (BeIN Sports, 1 p.m. PDT). Second-place Real Madrid (16-3-8) welcomes Eibar (7-14-6) on Sunday (BeIN Sports, 10:30 a.m. PDT). In Germany, Bayern Munich (22-4-4) can win an eighth-consecutive Bundesliga title if it beats visiting Borussia Monchengladbach (17-8-5) on Saturday (FS1, UniMas, TUDN, 9:30 a.m. PDT) and Dortmund (19-5-6) loses at Dusseldorf (6-14-10) earlier in the day (FS1, Fox Deportes, 6:30 a.m. PDT). Munich’s Robert Lewandowski leads Europe with 45 goals in 39 games in all competition while teammate Thomas Mueller has set a league record with 20 assists.

With 90 goals in 30 games as a team, Munich has a chance at breaking its own league record of 101 goals in a season set in 1971-72.

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Kevin Baxter

Kevin Baxter writes about soccer and other things for the Los Angeles Times, where he has worked for 27 years. He has covered seven World Cups, four Olympic Games, six World Series and a Super Bowl and has contributed to three Pulitzer Prize-winning series at The Times and Miami Herald. An essay he wrote in fifth grade was voted best in the class. He has a cool dog.

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