Real Betis were condemned to the final Primera Liga relegation spot when they drew 1-1 at home to Real Valladolid in a nail-biting final round of matches on Sunday.
Betis and four other teams were in danger of joining relegated Recreativo Huelva and Numancia but it was the Seville side who failed at the last hurdle after seven seasons in the top flight.
Superb comeback wins for Osasuna and Sporting Gijon and a battling draw for Getafe kept them up and Valladolid’s point also ensured their safety.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Passions were running high at the Ruiz de Lopera in Seville after the final whistle and police had to intervene to prevent angry fans getting into the VIP area and clashed with supporters outside the stadium.
Television pictures showed fans blocking the streets with rubbish bins and local media reported that the stadium was bombarded with bottles and stones.
Marcos Aguirre had put Valladolid in front in first-half stoppage time before striker Ricardo de Oliveira equalized four minutes after the break.
Edu hit the Valladolid crossbar with around 20 minutes left and Sergio Asenjo produced a fine save to deny Oliveira in the dying seconds but the visitors held out.
Osasuna, in the relegation places at the start of play, inflicted a fifth straight defeat on Real Madrid when they came back from a goal down to win 2-1 in Pamplona.
Juanfran scored the winner with a stunning volley from the edge of the area after Jaroslav Plasil’s tame shot slipped through the hands of Iker Casillas to cancel out Gonzalo Higuain’s opener.
Sporting Gijon fell behind to Recreativo in the 23rd minute but came storming back with goals from David Barral and Luis Moran, while in Santander, Racing went ahead through a Toni Moral strike before Getafe’s Esteban Granero equalized.
Getafe finished level on 42 points with Betis but stayed up due to a superior goal difference. Sporting, Osasuna and Valladolid all ended on 43.
Earlier, a hat-trick from captain Raul Tamudo gave Espanyol a 3-0 win over eighth-placed Malaga to move the Barcelona-based club up to 10th.
It was Espanyol’s eighth win in their last 10 matches, a run that saved them from relegation, and their final game at the Olympic Stadium before their move to Cornella-El Prat.
Sevilla, assured of third place and a spot in next season’s Champions League, won 2-0 at Numancia.
Treble winners Barcelona ended the season with a 1-1 draw at Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday which took them to 87 points from 38 matches, their highest ever tally.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
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Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB