13th May, 2012
Champions Real Madrid beat Mallorca 4-1 on Sunday to break the 100-point barrier on the final day of La Liga season as Villarreal sensationally slipped through the relegation trapdoor.
Mesut Ozil scored twice while Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema also hit the target as Jose Mourinho’s Real smashed Barcelona’s previous record of 99 points from the 2009-10 season.
The Santiago Bernabeu was given the first chance to celebrate Mourinho’s maiden Spanish title with ‘los blancos’ and resonated with a celebratory atmosphere to see skipper Iker Casillas lift the trophy after the match.
In the celebrations that followed, Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain indicated he may be about to leave Madrid, with recent speculation linking him with a move to Paris Saint-Germain.
“They have been almost six great years here in which I have had to fight for everything. I’m very grateful to the club and I’ve always tried to show this whenever I’ve taken to the pitch, I hope everything turns out well,” he said.
Mallorca needed a win to qualify for next season’s Europa League and battled hard against a Real side who claimed their 32nd Spanish title two games ago.
Ronaldo headed home an 18th-minute opener and two minutes later Benzema finished off a swift passing move after receiving a Ronaldo pass to double the lead.
Ozil produced a delightful chip for the third on 50 minutes before Chori Castro pulled one back for the side from the Balearics.
German international Ozil added his second when he guided home a long cross from Marcelo eight minutes later.
Jose Rondon scored the goal that beat Sporting Gijon 1-0 and guaranteed Malaga their first ever qualification for the Champions League.
Defeat for Sporting means they drop into the second division after four successive seasons in the top flight.
The Andalusian side started the stronger and Juan Pablo in the visitors’ goal had to make an acrobatic save from Eliseu on 17 minutes.
Then Rondon hit the post with a powerful header and with the game goalless at the interval Malaga’s dream was on hold.
However, it was Rondon who headed home a corner on 49 minutes to ease the nerves and send the packed Rosaleda crowd into celebration.
Algerian striker Abdelkader Ghezzal scored twice to help Levante to a 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao and reward their magnificant season with a Europa League place.
He raced onto a long ball from centre-half Gustavo Cabral to lob over the advancing Bilbao goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz on the stroke of half-time for his first.
Jose Barkero supplied him for the second and Francisco Farinos got a last minute penalty to send Levante into European competition for the first time.
At the bottom, Villarreal were relegated along with Sporting in a dramatic 90 minutes in which any two of five teams were facing the drop.
Villarreal lost 1-0 at home to Atletico Madrid for whom Radamel Falcao scored with two minutes remaining to condemn last season’s Europa League semi-finalists to the second-tier for the first time since 1998-99.
Reported by AFP