Lionel Messi scored the goal that clinched the Spanish league title for Barcelona on Sunday, securing a 1-0 win at dethroned champions Atletico Madrid.
Messi scored the decisive goal in the 65th minute after working a sublime one-two passing combination with Pedro, who started for the injured Luis Suarez.
It was the Catalan club’s 23rd league crown and their seventh in the past 11 years as they re-established themselves as the dominant Spanish club of the past decade.
A year after not winning a major title, coach Luis Enrique’s side can now focus on the final of the Uefa Champions League and the Copa del Rey as they aim for a treble of trophies.
“We’re very happy of this glorious era with so many titles,” Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets said. “Last year we weren’t up to the challenge to win any competitions, but this year we are on a good path and this is only the first.
“This winning era hadn’t ended. What Pep Guardiola started with Messi, Xavi, Iniesta is still going. We have one title now and are two more wins away from a historic season.”
Real Madrid will finish runners-up despite Cristiano Ronaldo scoring a hat-trick in a 4-1 win at Espanyol. Real trail Barcelona by four points with one round left.
Atletico, who won the title last year in a winner-takes-all finale at Barcelona, are in third place, just three points above Valencia.
With Suarez out nursing a left hamstring injury, Messi moved into the centre of Barcelona’s attack and had four shots in the first 20 minutes.
He first sent two efforts into the hands of Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak before firing high and heading a ball off the arm of Juanfran Torres in the area, which went unpunished by the referee.
Messi next clipped the crossbar with a free kick in the 34th minute before Dani Alves’s dipping strike from long range forced Oblak to tap it over his bar just before half time.
Barcelona kept up the pressure until Messi and Pedro finally broke down Atletico, when the Argentine used his left boot to fire the ball inside the post for his 41st league goal of the season and his 54th in as many games in all competitions.
“We’re very happy, first objective achieved,” Barcelona club president Josep Maria Bartomeu said. “Now that we’ve won La Liga, the next step is the Copa del Rey.”
Barcelona host Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday, the last day of the league season. They then face Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey final on May 30 before closing out the season against Juventus in the Uefa Champions League final in Berlin on June 6.
Ronaldo’s goals – he leads the race for the Pichichi with 45 – were again not enough for Madrid and Real coach Carlo Ancelotti’s team will end the season without a major title.
Espanyol had drawn level with Real through Christian Stuani’s 73rd-minute goal, only for Marcelo to strike six minutes later. Two Ronaldo goals in the final seven minutes made sure of the result.
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