Barcelona polished off their Spanish league title by equalling the record of 100 points with a 4-1 win over Malaga on Saturday, the final day of the season that saw several farewells led by Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho.
A drama-filled late slate of matches also saw Real Sociedad edge out Valencia for fourth place and the last Champions League berth, while Mallorca, Deportivo La Coruna, and Real Zaragoza were all relegated.
Barcelona stormed to an insurmountable lead at Camp Nou to match the century points milestone set by Madrid last season.
“We are happy, we have had a very good season,” said Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova. “The truth is that we were eliminated from the semi-finals of the Champions League, but if we have to reach 100 points and score 115 goals to be happy, well then that’s fine.”
David Villa, Cesc Fabregas, Martin Montoya and Andres Iniesta all scored for Barcelona before Pedro Morales pulled one back for Malaga.
Earlier, Madrid beat Osasuna 4-2 in Mourinho’s last game before his expected return to the English Premier League. Mourinho said goodbye to Madrid’s fans with a brief statement on the club website wishing them “much happiness” and “good health.”
Madrid, who never recovered from a poor start to the league campaign, finished the season in a distant second place 15 points behind Barcelona and without a major title after coming up short in the Champions League and Copa del Rey. It was also the last appearance for Barcelona defender Eric Abidal, Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini and Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain, all set to change clubs this summer.
Sociedad book last cl spot
Sociedad manager Philippe Montanier ended his two years in San Sebastian by guiding his team into Europe’s top tier competition along with Barcelona, Madrid, and Atletico Madrid after the Basque club won 1-0 at Deportivo from Antoine Griezmann’s 22nd-minute goal.
Valencia needed a win at Sevilla to finish ahead of Sociedad, but they had to settle for fifth place and a Europa League spot after Alvaro Negredo scored four goals in a 4-3 win.
Coach Ernesto Valverde also announced that he would be leaving Valencia after taking the club over in December on a six-month contract.
Malaga ended in sixth place, but are barred from the European competition for one season, meaning that Real Betis in seventh and Rayo Vallecano in eighth will play in the Europa League unless the ban is overturned.
Celta Vigo escaped the drop zone with a 1-0 win over Espanyol from Natxo Insa’s goal.
Celta’s win made Mallorca’s 4-2 victory over Valladolid moot, while Zaragoza were doomed after losing 3-1 to third-place Atletico. Also, Rayo drew 2-2 with Athletic Bilbao, Granada downed Getafe 2-0, and Levante drew 1-1 with Betis.
Eric Abidal, who fought back from a liver transplant to rejoin Barcelona this season, went on at Camp Nou to a standing ovation to play his final 14 minutes for the club after the club didn’t offer to prolong his six-year stint.
Barcelona honoured Abidal after the match along with his wife, daughters, and cousin Gerard who donated a part of his liver for his transplant last year.