Real Madrid crowned champions of Spain and the party starts - in pictures

Real Madrid cruised to another La Liga title on Saturday after a comfortable 4-0 win against Espanyol.

It completed the final part of a remarkable achievement for Carlo Ancelotti, who has become the first manager to win the title in all of Europe's five major leagues - Ligue 1, Premier League, Serie A, Bundesliga and La Liga.

Ancelotti won Serie A with AC Milan in 2004, the Premier League at Chelsea in 2010, managed Paris Saint Germain to Ligue 1 in 2013, and the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich in 2017.

Real needed just a point to ensure that Barcelona could not catch them, but took no chances in a storming performance at the Santiago Bernabeu for their 35th league crown.

Rodrygo put Real ahead in the 33rd minute, shimmying away from two players before stroking the ball into the bottom corner.

The Brazilian doubled the lead just before half-time, when Sergi Gomez was robbed on the edge of his own area and Rodrygo fired low into the corner.

Marco Asensio strolled into the area before calmly finishing in the second half to add the third, and Karim Benzema, rested for the return leg of the Champions League semi-final against Manchester City in midweek, came off the bench to add the fourth.

Notable salonnières of the Middle East through history

Al Khasan (Okaz, Saudi Arabia)

Tamadir bint Amr Al Harith, known simply as Al Khasan, was a poet from Najd famed for elegies, earning great renown for the eulogy of her brothers Mu’awiyah and Sakhr, both killed in tribal wars. Although not a salonnière, this prestigious 7th century poet fostered a culture of literary criticism and could be found standing in the souq of Okaz and reciting her poetry, publicly pronouncing her views and inviting others to join in the debate on scholarship. She later converted to Islam.

Maryana Marrash (Aleppo)

A poet and writer, Marrash helped revive the tradition of the salon and was an active part of the Nadha movement, or Arab Renaissance. Born to an established family in Aleppo in Ottoman Syria in 1848, Marrash was educated at missionary schools in Aleppo and Beirut at a time when many women did not receive an education. After touring Europe, she began to host salons where writers played chess and cards, competed in the art of poetry, and discussed literature and politics. An accomplished singer and canon player, music and dancing were a part of these evenings.

Princess Nazil Fadil (Cairo)

Princess Nazil Fadil gathered religious, literary and political elite together at her Cairo palace, although she stopped short of inviting women. The princess, a niece of Khedive Ismail, believed that Egypt’s situation could only be solved through education and she donated her own property to help fund the first modern Egyptian University in Cairo.

Mayy Ziyadah (Cairo)

Ziyadah was the first to entertain both men and women at her Cairo salon, founded in 1913. The writer, poet, public speaker and critic, her writing explored language, religious identity, language, nationalism and hierarchy. Born in Nazareth, Palestine, to a Lebanese father and Palestinian mother, her salon was open to different social classes and earned comparisons with souq of where Al Khansa herself once recited.