Real Madrid reached a record-breaking 100 La Liga points after an emphatic 4-1 win against Mallorca, while big spending Málaga secured a UEFA Champions League place thanks to a 1-0 win against Sporting Gijón.
Manuel Pellegrini’s Malaga went into today’s final round of games knowing that they simply needed a point to finish fourth and qualify for the Champions League next season. But they went two better than that when José Rondón’s 11th goal of the season secured all three and ended a run of two consecutive defeats.
At the Bernabéu is was party time for the new La Liga champions. And Jose Mourinho’s side celebrated in stye as two goals from Mesut Özil and goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema gave the champions a commanding win.
With the four goals today, Real Madrid scored an amazing 173 goals in all competitions this season. So much for Jose Mourinho not playing attacking football!
Wile it was a day of celebration in Madrid and Malaga it was a day of bitter disappointment for Villarreal fans.
Villarreal looked to have avoided relegation, but a late late goal by Atletico Madrid beat Villarreal 1-0 and ended their 14-year stay in the top flight. Real Zaragoza and Rayo Vallecano, who beat Getafe and Granada respectively, were able to somehow avoid relegation.
It was a stunning collapse for Villarreal who began the season playing in the Champions League. To the go from the heights of the Champions League to relegation in the same season is almost unfathomable.
On Saturday Pep Guardiola saw his ten-man FC Barcelona side get an equaliser from Seydou Keita two minutes into added time to rescue a 2-2 draw at Real Betis. Second-half goals, scored just three minutes apart, from Castro Rubén put Betis ahead after Sergio Busquets’ strike nine minutes into the game had given the early advantage to Barca.
Guardiola has one remaining shot at glory before taking a year sabbatical when Barca take on Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey on 25 May.