Another Liga F title for Barca as Atleti clinch Champions League spot
In the penultimate Liga F match day on Sunday, the title, relegation and European qualification was confirmed.
Not that it was ever in doubt, but Barcelona wrapped up the Liga F title in style on Sunday.
A 10th Liga F triumph was secured with a 9-0 victory away at Real Betis as they moved six points clear of Real Madrid with just one game left to play as Las Blancas drew 1-1 with Tenerife.
It was Barca’s sixth consecutive title which is a record, but one they were pushed quite hard at achieving, albeit they did still get over the line with a game to spare.
The points difference between them and second place Madrid, which currently stands at six but could finish at nine, will be much smaller this time round compared to the previous few seasons.
The Catalans won the title by 15 points last season, 10 points two seasons ago and 24 points, 25 points, and 9 points in this run of six successive titles.
Credit has to go to Real Madrid for pushing them hard, including that memorable first Clasico victory in 18 attempts and they will hope to sustain a long title challenge again next season.
For now though, Barcelona remain on top and they delivered a devastating performance when needed to clinch the title, as they have done in many big game at his year.
Pere Romeu’s side started the game in Andalusia as they meant to go on.
Ewa Pajor opened the scoring after three minutes with Claudia Pina scoring a second three minutes later.
Esmee Brugts netted their third before half-time with the floodgates opening in the second half.
Pina got her hat-trick early in the second half before Aitana Bonmati got in on the act.
Alexia Putellas got a double whilst Pajor rounded off the thrashing as Betis suffered relegation to the second tier after 10 seasons in the top flight along with Valencia, who drop out after 15 seasons.
With just one league game left to play against Athletic Club, Romeu will likely rest his key players with a Champions League final against Arsenal and a Copa de la Reina decider against Atleti to come in the next fortnight.
With the Supercopa de Espana and now the league title in the bag, few would bet against them completing another quadruple with the ruthless form they are in.
It was also a good weekend for their Copa final opponents Atleti, who return to the Champions League for a second successive season with a 2-0 win against Eibar that secured third place.
This will be their seventh experience in the European competition after another solid season in which they consolidated that third place, albeit a fair distance behind Real Madrid in second.
They will hope to kick on and reach the group stages this year after being knocked out by Rosenborg on penalties in the qualifying stage.
Finally a word on Athletic Club, another fantastic story this season.
Whilst Levante’s fall off down to 13th place was startling, Athletic Club’s rise to 4th has also been, but for all the right reasons.
It was the club’s highest finish since 2017-18 and represents progress from last year’s fifth place finish.
Whilst they missed out on third and European football, they will compete for the first time in next year’s Supercopa de España alongside Barca, Real and Atleti.