Barcelona picked up their third
consecutive Spanish title with a 1-1
draw at Levante. Seydou Keita's
header put the Catalans ahead and,
despite Gerard Pique's error allowing
Felipe Caicedo to level, Pep
Guardiola's men held on to secure
the trophy.
- Lionel Messi celebrates title success
- Real Madrid thrash Getafe
In a game that Barcelona dominated,
Lionel Messi failed to get on the
scoresheet, although hit the post and
continued to dazzle with some
incredible dribbling skills. However, it
was Keita who broke the deadlock
when he raced onto a chipped
through ball from Xavi to head past
Gustavo Munua.
Barcelona kept possession well, but
Levante stole an equaliser when a
long ball was not cleared by Pique
and Caicedo, on loan from
Manchester City, took it past Victor
Valdes and slotted the ball into an
empty net.
The point was enough to wrap up
the league title ahead of Jose
Mourinho's Real Madrid, and they
now turn their attention to the May
28 Champions League final
showdown with Manchester United.
Villarreal's hopes of pipping local
rivals Valencia to third place
disappeared as the Yellow Submarine
could only manage a 0-0 draw at
relegated Almeria.
Villarreal started well and might well
have been out of sight inside the
opening 25 minutes with Nilmar
(three times) and Borja Valero going
close, but Almeria goalkeeper
Esteban Suarez helped to keep his
side on level terms.
Espanyol and Valencia were both left
somewhat frustrated following a 2-2
draw at Cornella.
Espanyol needed a win to boost their
hopes of making next season's
Europa League, but Valencia led until
late in the game and will think they
should have gone home with the
win. The visitors led twice thanks to
goals from Roberto Soldado and
Juan Mata, but Unai Emery's side
were pegged back by strikes from
Dani Osvaldo and Ernesto Galan.
Osasuna completed an extraordinary
comeback to move five points clear
of the relegation zone with a 3-2
victory over Sevilla.
Two goals in two minutes from
Alvaro Negredo had given Sevilla a
2-0 lead at half-time, but Kike Sola
gave the hosts a lifeline with a goal in
the first minute of the second half.
Sola then netted an 87th minute
equaliser, before Dejan Lekic
completed the remarkable
turnaround.
Mikel Aranburu struck a last-gasp
winner as Real Sociedad took a
massive step towards survival with a
2-1 win and left Real Zaragoza still
deep in trouble in the relegation zone.
Zaragoza, who would have climbed
out of the bottom three with a point,
looked set to earn a draw after
captain Gabi cancelled out Raul
Tamudo's first-half opener for
Sociedad.
But there was to be a late twist in the
tale as, in the 88th minute, Aranburu
saw his shot deflected in to earn
Sociedad the spoils.
And finally, Hercules were relegated
from after letting slip a two-goal lead
to draw 2-2 at home to Real Mallorca.
Sendoa had netted twice in the first
half to put Hercules in control, but
two goals in four minutes from
Victor and Pierre Webo in the 76th
and 80th minutes saw Hercules join
bottom club Almeria in the second
division next season.
Topic: Barca seal spanish title (Read 1494 times)
