© EuroFootball.com
On Saturday, eight matches of the 38th round of the Spanish La Liga championship were played. In an important victory in the fight for a ticket to the UEFA Champions League, Sevilla defeated Barcelona 3-2 with a reserve team.
Meanwhile, a dramatic victory was achieved at home by the King's Cup winners Espanyol of Barcelona, who secured their place among the best for the next season. This result left Vitoria's Alaves very disappointed, as they managed to beat the much stronger Deportivo La Coruna 1-0 at home, but their fate depended on the Barcelona match.
The players of Cadiz, leaving the league with a whimper, crushed Malaga 5-0 at home, already having lost any chances of staying in the league.
Six teams have not yet played their final matches. The next games will be played on Tuesday, with Sevilla facing Real Madrid, and Osasuna of Pamplona facing Valencia. These matches will be very important for all four teams - Real and Valencia fighting for second place, which gives a ticket to the UEFA Champions League group stage, while Osasuna and Sevilla are battling for fourth place, which gives a ticket to the Champions League qualifying stage.
The championship officially ends on May 19, when Athletic Bilbao will host Barcelona in the city of Bilbao. These matches practically have no impact on either team - Barcelona have already secured the Spanish champions' title, and Athletic Bilbao can only move up one position to 12th place with a victory.
Statistics
Alaves 1 - 0 Deportivo
79` [1 - 0] Rodolfo Bodipo
Barcelona 1 - 0 Real Sociedad
90` [1 - 0] Corominas
Sevilla 3 - 2 Barcelona
22` [1 - 0] Daniel Alves
24` [2 - 0] Aitor Ocio (pen.)
40` [2 - 1] Santiago Ezquerro
42` [2 - 2] Silvinho
76` [3 - 2] Kepa
90` Gabri sent off ("Barca")
Malaga 2 - 0 Cadiz
31` [1 - 0] Juan Roman Riquelme (pen.)
62` [2 - 0] Xisco
Real Madrid 1 - 1 Sevilla
24` [1 - 0] Mateja Kezman
77` [1 - 1] Arzu
Racing Santander 5 - 0 Malaga
19` [1 - 0] Matias Pavoni
63` [2 - 0] Jonathan Sesma
65` [3 - 0] Jonathan Sesma
79` [4 - 0] Fabian Estoyanoff
84` [5 - 0] Nenad Mirosavljevic
Celta Vigo 1 - 0 Real Madrid
23` [1 - 0] Pablo Contreras
86` Mariano Pernia sent off ("Celta")
Tenerife 3 - 1 Villarreal
19` [1 - 0] Juan Arango
37` [1 - 1] Savio
67` [2 - 1] Francisco Farinos
86` [3 - 1] Yordi
