Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo will rightly be lauded for extending the Primera Liga title race and the Pichichi top scorers' duel until the final day of the Spain's 38-game season.
But once again Barcelona finished champions with their No 9 Luis Suarez breaking the six-year Ronaldo-Lionel Messi goalscoring duopoly.
Madrid did well to be in contention.
When Gerard Pique put Barca ahead during the April 2 clasico, they were provisionally 13 points clear of their great rivals. Yet Zinedine Zidane’s Madrid came back and won.
They have picked up an astonishing 53 points from 20 league games under their rookie manager. It bodes well for next season, but it was not quite enough for this one.
Their 90-point haul left them one short of Barcelona.
That clasico defeat saw Barca wobble and lose four of their next five, but the Catalans recovered their form, winning five straight league games and scoring 24 goals without conceding one.
Suarez was the star, hitting his best form of the season just when it was needed.
His hat-trick in Saturday's 3-0 win at Granada did not only seal the Catalans' 24th Spanish title, it pushed him to 40 league goals from 35 games, beyond the totals of legendary strikers Zarra and Hugo Sanchez. Only Messi and Ronaldo have scored more than 40, each of them three times.
Photo gallery: Luis Suarez scores hat trick as Barcelona seal La Liga trophy
Also see: Barcelona coach Luis Enrique says 'Most consistent team wins title' after La Liga triumph
Ronaldo started the day three goals behind Suarez. He reduced that to two with an early goal at Deportivo La Coruna. It was the sixth consecutive season in which he has scored 50 or more goals in all competitions for Madrid.
Like his side, Ronaldo was chasing improbables. Madrid needed to win and Barca to lose to lift the title.
Ronaldo needed Suarez not to score. He did when he put Barca ahead in Granada after 22 minutes. Ronaldo made it 2-0 at Galicia, Suarez made it 2-0 at Granada – and all by half time.
Both of Suarez’s goals were close-range finishes that came from the cross of a full-back, the second from Daniel Alves.
No defender has assisted more goals than Alves in Spain this season, no forward more than Suarez’s 22 assists in all competitions.
The Uruguayan has been involved in 81 goals for his club, either by scoring or assisting. He has mind-boggling figures only usually associated with Messi and Ronaldo.
There would be no more goals from Ronaldo in La Coruna, but Suarez was not finished 700 kilometres to the south-east at Granada. His 86th-minute hat-trick made it 14 goals in five games, during which he has scored three hat-tricks. Those 14 goals came from just 17 shots on target.
Suarez is the best No 9 in football and saved his purple patch for the right time to hold off Ronaldo’s challenge, helping his side remain the pre-eminent force in Spanish football.
Barca have won seven of the past 10 league titles.
There has been a clear shift in Spanish football. Between the first league in 1928 and 1990, Madrid won 25 league titles to Barca’s 10. Since 1990, Barca have won 14 leagues to Madrid’s seven.
Johan Cruyff was the man responsible for what Spaniards call “Changing the chip”. His style of football is still used and still enthrals, the baton passed on to talented successors such as Pep Guardiola and now Luis Enrique.
On the pitch they have had Messi, who, along with Andres Iniesta, has now won a record eight titles – the same as Xavi Hernandez.
At Madrid, club president Florentino Perez may have consistently spent big, but Madrid have won only one of the past eight league titles, their worst stretch since Santiago Bernabeu changed their chip in 1953.
Barca’s venerated front three receive most of the acclaim.
Neymar showed selflessness in setting up Suarez for his third at Granada, but the champions have had other star performers.
Iniesta has stepped up in Xavi’s absence and has been consistent throughout.
Javier Mascherano, nominally a midfielder, has been Barca’s best defender. He left the field injured but it was later reported he will available for next Sunday’s Copa del Rey final against Sevilla.
Unlike Madrid, Barca will not be in the Uefa Champions League final, but at home they continue to rule.
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