BARCELONA CLAIMED THEIR fifth La Liga title in seven years and their 23rd overall as Lionel Messi scored the winner in a 1-0 victory at Atletico Madrid.
Exactly a year to the day since Atletico won the league in a title decider at Barca’s Camp Nou, the Catalans exacted some measure of revenge to seal the first of a potential treble of trophies this season.
Luis Enrique’s men face Athletic Bilbao in the final of the Copa del Rey on home soil at the Camp Nou on May 30 and Juventus in the Champions League final a week later in Berlin.
Cristiano Ronaldo struck his 30th Real Madrid hat-trick as Los Blancos bounced back from their Champions League elimination at the hands of Juventus to beat Espanyol 4-1, but it mattered little as they still trail Barca by four points with just one game to play.
Meanwhile, defeat means Atletico need just a point on the final day to secure their place in the group stages of the Champions League next season by finishing third as Valencia could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to Celta Vigo.
As so often this season, it was Messi who provided the moment of magic for Barca as he played a neat one-two with Pedro Rodriguez inside the area before prodding the ball into the far corner.
Messi then teed up Neymar with a great opportunity to seal the title, but the Brazilian failed to continue his seven-game scoring streak as he blasted over with just Oblak to beat.
That miss mattered little, though, as the visitors comfortably saw out the final few minutes.
Madrid did all they could to keep the pressure on Barca as Ronaldo all but ensured he will at least win his duel with Messi to be the league’s top scorer by taking his tally for the league season to 45.
The Portuguese put Madrid ahead before an error from Keylor Navas allowed Christian Stuani to level for Espanyol.
However, Marcelo put Carlo Ancelotti’s men back in front before Ronaldo struck twice more in the final eight minutes.
At the bottom Deportivo la Coruna and Granada moved out of the relegation zone with victories over Levante and Real Sociedad respectively.
They now lead Eibar and Almeria by two points with all four fighting for survival on the final day of the season next Saturday.
