Madrid beat out Barcelona at the top of the table by three points as the Catalans’ come-from-behind 4-2 victory over Eibar in outgoing coach Luis Enrique’s last home game in charge wasn’t enough for a third straight title. Real needed just a point to be assured of the title and any lingering nerves were dispelled within seconds.
Isco latched upon a poor clearance from Luis Hernandez and his sumptuous through ball freed Ronaldo to round Carlos Kameni and fire into an empty net. Madrid could have further built on a fast start as Benzema saw a goalbound effort deflected just wide. Malaga’s attitude ahead of the game had been questioned after comments by their coach Michel that he would have preferred his former club had won the league before their visit to La Rosaleda to give them a guard of honour.
However, the hosts showed why they had taken 13 points from their previous five games as the first half wore on. Keylor Navas produced a stunning save to prevent Sandro Ramirez from doing former employers Barca a favour with a superb free-kick.
Sandro then saw another fierce effort deflect inches wide off Keko, who then had a great chance himself when he headed over unmarked from 10 yards out. However, Ronaldo should have had his second when Kameni got down low to his right to save from point-blank range.
Benzema did make sure of the title early in the second half when he swept home the loose ball after Kameni had saved Sergio Ramos’s first effort. In Barcelona, Enrique was given a warm send-off at the Camp Nou as he was greeted with a giant banner reading “One of us forever”.
And Barca at least salvaged some pride by fighting back from 2-0 down to avoid a first ever defeat against Eibar. Japanese midfielder Takashi Inui had the visitors dreaming as he hit a pair of sweetly struck half-volleys in off the underside of the crossbar either side of half-time.
However, David Junca turned into his own net after Neymar had hit the post to start Barca’s revival 25 minutes from time. Yoel Rodriguez produced an incredible save to deny Lionel Messi from the penalty spot moments later.
Barca weren’t to be denied a sixth straight win to end the season though as Luis Suarez bundled home from close range before Messi made amends with his second penalty 15 minutes from time. And Messi rounded off the scoring with his 53rd goal of the season in stoppage time.
Results
Atletico Madrid 3 (Torres 8, 11, Correa 89) Athletic Bilbao 1 (Williams 70); Valencia 1 (Nani 54) Villarreal 3 (Soldado 1, Trigueros 58, Sansone 88); Celta Vigo 2 (Aspas 54-pen, Hjulsager 90) Real Sociedad 2 (Oyarzabal 82, Juanmi 90+3); Barcelona 4 (Juncà 63-og, Suarez 73, Messi 75-pen, 90+2) Eibar 2 (Inui 7, 61); Malaga 0 Real Madrid 2 (Cristiano Ronaldo 2, Benzema 55)
Played Saturday: Sporting Gijon 2 (Douglas 7, Carmona 79) Real Betis 2 (Castro 22, 59); Deportivo La Coruna 3 (Andone 4, 28, Gil 39) Las Palmas 0; Leganes 1 (Timor 89) Alaves 1 (Krsticic 64); Sevilla 5 (Vitolo 10, 80, Vazquez 20, 60, Jovetic 35) Osasuna 0; Granada 1 (Pereira 22) Espanyol 2 (Carrilho Baptistao 3, Vezo 8-og)
Leading scorers
37: Messi (Barcelona); 29: Suárez (Barcelona); 25: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid); 19: Aspas (Celta Vigo); 16: Aritz Aduriz (Athletic Bilbao), Griezmann (Atletico Madrid); 15: Álvaro Morata (Real Madrid); 14: Sandro (Malaga); 13: Gerard Moreno (Espanyol), Neymar (Barcelona), Rubén Castro (Real Betis); 12: Andone (Deportivo La Coruna), Gameiro (Atletico Madrid), Willian José (Real Sociedad); 11: Bakambu (Villarreal), Ben Yedder (Sevilla), Benzema (Real Madrid), Enrich (Eibar), Juanmi (Real Sociedad); 10: KP Boateng (Las Palmas), Ferreira-Carrasco (Atletico Madrid), Isco (Real Madrid), Limones (Osasuna), Pedro Léon (Eibar), Piatti (Espanyol), Raúl García (Athletic Bilbao)
