News Archive

First division – day 38

With everything decided at the top, the matches involving Barcelona and Real Madrid were postponed to Sunday. League champions Barcelona ended their season with a 2-2 draw at Eibar, with Messi scoring twice in as many minutes to overturn Cucurella’s early opener, and De Blasis saving a point for the hosts with a strike shortly before the interval. Messi now has 50 for the season in all club competitions, and is virtually sure of his sixth European Golden Boot. Real Madrid will be glad the season is over at last though after they lost 0-2 to Betis, Loren and ex Madrid forward Jesé getting the goals after the break to hand their hosts a twelfth league defeat of current campaign, leaving them 19 points adrift of Barça, the biggest gap between the two since the league began some 90 years ago! The Catalans of course still have the Spanish cup final to come, against Valencia next Saturday. (19.05.19)

Few surprises on the last day of the league championship, with Valencia tying up the fourth and final Champions League spot after a 0-2 victory at Valladolid. Carlos Soler and Rodrigo got the goals either side of half time to take them two points clear of Getafe, who finish a respectable fifth after a 2-2 draw against Villarreal. The Madrid based side twice took the lead through Portillo and Maksimovic, but goals by Iborra and Gerard Moreno pegged them back both times. Getafe end the season just above Sevilla, who made sure of sixth place after a 2-0 victory over Athletic Bilbao. A win would have taken the Basques above their hosts, but Ben Yedder put the locals in front just before the break. With the game coming to an end Iñigo Martínez hit the crossbar, but play went up the other end, and Munir made it two on the resulting counter-attack. That meant that Athletic even missed out on the third Europa League spot, and Espanyol took advantage to move above them on head-to-head goal difference after a 2-0 win over Real Sociedad, who were also in with a chance of overtaking their regional rivals. Rosales and China’s Wu Lei got the goals in the second half to take the Catalans back to Europe after a 12 year absence, and although they will have to enter at the qualifying stages, there were celebratory scenes at the Cornellà stadium at the end.

Disappointment though for Espanyol’s regional neighbours Girona, who confirmed their relegation to the second division after a 2-1 defeat at Alavés. Eusebio’s side needed a near-miracle to stay up, but strikes by Wakaso and Calleri ended any hope, and Portu’s goal came too late to change the result. As it happened however, even a seven goal victory wouldn’t have saved them after Celta got the point they needed in a 2-2 draw against Rayo Vallecano. An Embarba penalty and a strike by Medrán put the visitors two up, but late goals by Iago Aspas at least salvaged some pride for the Galicians. Rayo end the season at the bottom of the table after Huesca won 2-1 against Leganés to move above them in the table, ex Leganés defender Mantovani scoring a strange “hat-trick”, putting through his own net before the break, and heading both his team’s goals after the restart. Earlier in the day Levante and Atlético Madrid drew 2-2, the visitors going two down by the break through strikes by Cabaco and Roger, but coming back with ten men to save a point thanks to goals from Rodri and youngster Sergio Camello. (18.05.19)