Barcelona equal point record; Mourinho farewell
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona polished off their Spanish league title by equalling the record of 100 points with a 4-1 win over Malaga yesterday, the final day of a season that featured 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, Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain, and Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini, all set to change clubs this summer.
Sociedad manager Philippe Montanier also 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 La Coruna 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.
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 Nacho Insa’s goal.