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On Sunday, the matches of the 38th round ended in Spain's top division ("La Liga"). The winners were already determined to be "Barcelona", while in the final round, the fate of the remaining two tickets to next year's UEFA Champions League was decided. The clubs that held the best positions in this battle before the final round, "Villarreal" and "Betis", did not falter and will also play in the prestigious European club tournament next year.
In case of failure of the latter clubs, the footballers of Barcelona's "Espanyol" did everything within their power: they defeated Bilbao's "Athletic" footballers 2-0, but that was enough only to secure their place in the UEFA Cup. "Sevilla" ended the championship in disappointment, losing 0-2 at home to "Malaga" footballers, but they remained sixth and will also play in the UEFA Cup next year.
"Mallorca" demonstrated an impressive form at the end of the season and miraculously climbed out from the bottom of the table to finish in a safe 17th place.
It is already clear that "La Liga" will bid farewell to "Albacete", which dropped to last place in this round, as well as to Sorija's "Numancia" and Valencia's "Levante" clubs, that entered the highest league only this season.
The winner of the previous season "Valencia", which remained in seventh place, will most likely compete in the Intertoto tournament next year, from which, if successful, they will enter the UEFA Cup.
The most prolific player of the championship was the Uruguayan Diego Forlanas. Although a few rounds ago it seemed certain that "Pichichi" title would be claimed by Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o, the "hat-trick" from the former "Man Utd" forward D. Forlan into Barca's goal and two goals in the final round against "Levante" allowed him to finish at the top of the list of most prolific players with 25 goals. London's "Arsenal" striker Thierry Henry also scored the same number of goals. It is not yet clear, but it is believed that these players will share the "Golden Boot."
Final teams ranking: 1 Barcelona 38 25 9 4 +44 84 (UEFA Champions League) 2 Real 38 25 5 8 +39 80 (UEFA Champions League) 3 Villarreal 38 18 11 9 +32 65 (UEFA Champions League) 4 Betis 38 16 14 8 +12 62 (UEFA Champions League) 5 Espanyol 38 17 10 11 +8 61 (UEFA Cup) 6 Sevilla 38 17 9 12 +3 60 (UEFA Cup) 7 Valencia 38 14 16 8 +15 58 (Intertoto) 8 Deportivo 38 12 15 11 -4 51 (Intertoto) 9 Athletic Bilbao 38 14 9 15 +5 51 10 Malaga 38 15 6 17 -8 51 11 Atletico 38 13 11 14 +6 50 12 Zaragoza 38 14 8 16 -5 50 13 Getafe 38 12 11 15 -8 47 14 Real Sociedad 38 13 8 17 -9 47 15 Osasuna 38 12 10 16 -19 46 (UEFA Cup (King's Cup finalists)) 16 Racing Santander 38 12 8 18 -17 44 17 Mallorca 38 10 9 19 -21 39 18 Levante 38 9 10 19 -15 37 (relegated to "Segunda Division") 19 Numancia 38 6 11 21 -31 29 (relegated to "Segunda Division") 20 Albacete 38 6 10 22 -23 28 (relegated to "Segunda Division")
Top scorers list: 25 Diego Forlan (Villarreal) 24 Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona) 22 Ricardo Oliveira (Real Betis) 21 Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 18 Julio Baptista (Sevilla) 16 Juan Riquelme (Villarreal) Fernando Torres (Atletico Madrid) 15 Maxi Rodriguez (Espanyol) David Villa (Real Zaragoza) 13 Nihat Kahveci (Real Sociedad) Michael Owen (Real Madrid) 12 Ismael Urzaiz (Athletic Bilbao) Antonio Pacheco (Albacete) 11 Luis Garcia (Real Mallorca) Edu (Real Betis) Santiago Ezquerro (Athletic Bilbao) Marco Di Vaio (Valencia) Ludovic Giuly (Barcelona) Albert Luque (Deportivo Coruna) Raul Tamudo (Espanyol) 10 Savio (Real Zaragoza)
As the season in the second Spanish league is not over yet, the situation is as follows: 1 Celta Vigo 39 21 10 8 52 33 73 2 Alaves 39 22 7 10 60 44 73 3 Cadiz 38 19 11 8 62 28 68 4 Recreativo Huelva 39 18 12 9 40 25 66 5 Eibar 39 18 12 9 49 37 66
Sunday's statistics 2 - 2 22' [0 - 1] David Cubillo (penalty) 48' [1 - 1] Richard Nunez 55' [1 - 2] Gheorghe Craioveanu 90' [2 - 2] Richard Nunez
Barcelona 2 - 0 33' [1 - 0] Toni Velamazan 47' [2 - 0] Alberto Lopo 67' Daniel Jarque ("Espanyol") sent off
1 - 1 Sevilla 53' [0 - 1] Marcos Assuncao 89' [1 - 1] Guillermo Pereyra
Sorija 1 - 1 La Corunna 49' [1 - 0] Luis Tevenet (penalty) 59' [1 - 1] Juanpa (own goal)
0 - 2 78' [0 - 1] Duda 90' [0 - 2] Fernando Baiano
1 - 0 Pamplona 81' [1 - 0] Pablo Aimar
4 - 1 Valencia 23' [0 - 1] Gustavo Enrique Reggi 41' [1 - 1] Josico 45' [2 - 1] Diego Forlan 90' [3 - 1] Diego Forlan 90' [4 - 1] Luciano Figueroa
1 - 0 33' [1 - 0] David Aganzo
