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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 hockey for the Los Angeles Times. 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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