La Liga had precious little to decide going into its final weekend, but there was still newsworthy stuff like Real Madrid ending a couple of eras and the last relegation spot being decided. Before we leave Spain for the summer, let’s do one last recap.
La Liga Winners
Real Madrid’s farewells
Kylian Mbappé scored the goals in their win over Real Sociedad, but the day belonged to coach Carlo Ancelotti, who is leaving to become the first-ever foreigner to coach the Brazilian national team, and to Luka Modrić. Back when he was at Tottenham, they played him as a left-winger at first because they thought such a small player would be eaten up in central midfield. The Croatian wound up winning every club honor possible by bossing the middle of the pitch with finesse that more than made up for his lack of physical stature. He’ll still play for Real at the Club World Cup, but Saturday was his last home game at the Bernabéu, and it will be some time before the fans see his like again.
Pere Milla
In a must-win game for Espanyol, it was Las Palmas who were creating all the scoring chances in the first half. When coach Manolo González inserted the veteran Milla at halftime for Pol Lozano, it turned the tide in favor of the Barcelona team, as fellow sub Alejo Veliz won a penalty before Milla put the game out of reach by receiving a pass from Javi Puado near the penalty spot and calmly finishing past Las Palmas keeper Dinko Horkas to save Espanyol from relegation and set off wild celebrations at the RCDE Stadium.
Alexander Sørloth
Atlético Madrid’s 4-0 flattening of Girona didn’t mean much to either team, but Atleti’s striker scored a hat trick to finish the season with 20 goals. Twelve of those he scored coming off the bench, including all of the ones in the Girona match.
Levante
Their narrow victory over Burgos assured them of promotion to the top flight, where they will renew the Derbi Valenciano against cross-town rivals Valencia CF. The team has yo-yoed between the first and second division for the last 15 years, so we’ll see how long they stick around, but congratulations are in order.
La Liga Losers
Leganés
While they smashed Real Valladolid, Espanyol’s win over Las Palmas made it all for nought, ensuring that Lega joined their opponents in going down to La Segunda División next season.
Sevilla
On a day when Villarreal honored their retiring captain and World Cup winner Raúl Albiol, the visitors were all too happy to play stooges at the Estadio de la Cerámica, putting up token resistance as Villarreal banged four goals past them. The loss meant little to Sevilla, who finished the season in 17th place. However, there will be a cloud over this team until its ownership and management situation is resolved, and it will likely color some of the club’s transfer business as they try to avoid relegation next season.
Osasuna
The mood was funereal among their fans who traveled to the Mendizorroza to watch their team’s draw drop them to eighth place, behind a Celta de Vigo team that came back to win at Getafe. That means that los rojillos won’t be playing in Europe, as Celta grab the last Europa League place while Rayo Vallecano (which played out a goalless draw against Mallorca) play in the Europa Conference League.
Cheer up, guys: You may only have domestic soccer to compete for next season, but likely all Celta and Rayo have done is earn the right to lose to some team that’s fighting off relegation in the English Premier League. It ain’t that bad.