Portuguese goal machine Cristiano Ronaldo equaled the all-time league record of 38 goals with a brace in Real Madrid’s 3-1 victory at Villarreal on Sunday.
Ronaldo made it nine goals in his last three games with a 22nd-minute free-kick and a last-minute strike to stay on course to pick up the Pichichi trophy for the league’s top-scorer.
Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, his nearest rival, has 31 La Liga goals.
Ronaldo’s 38-goal tally equals the all-time best record set by Athletic Bilbao’s Telmo Zarra in 1951 and matched by Real’s iconic Mexican striker Hugo Sanchez in 1990. He still has the final game of the season to set a new record.
Newly crowned champions Barcelona had their eye on the Champions League final against Manchester United on May 28 as they rested stars in a dull 0-0 draw against Deportivo La Coruna at the Camp Nou.
The visitors performed the traditional guard of honor to salute the league champions, who secured the title on Wednesday with a 1-1 draw against Levante, although most of the Barcelona stars were on the bench.
Deportivo were fighting relegation and undoubtedly happy to see Messi and company watching from the sidelines as they claimed a valuable point in their bid to beat the drop.
Deportivo, league champions in 2000, are one point above the bottom three heading into the final game next weekend.
Elsewhere, Valencia clinched third place for the second successive season with a 0-0 draw against derby rivals Levante.
Valencia earn direct qualification for the Champions League, while fourth-placed Villarreal must negotiate a two-legged qualifier.
The battle for the two Europa League places will go to the final match of the season, with Athletic Bilbao, Atletico Madrid and Sevilla all locked on 55 points.
Bilbao had been in the box seat in fifth with a two-point advantage over their rivals, but a 1-1 draw against 10-man Malaga surrendered their cushion.
Atletico beat already-relegated Hercules 2-1 at home as manager Quique Sanchez Flores said goodbye to the Atletico fans in his final game at the Vicente Calderon.
Flores confirmed he was leaving the club in the buildup and signed off with three points, although Atletico are behind Sevilla and Bilbao on their head-to-head records.
Sevilla climbed above Bilbao into fifth with a 3-1 win over Real Sociedad thanks to a brace from veteran Mali forward Frederic Kanoute.
In a mid-table clash, Sporting Gijon edged Racing Santander 2-1.
At the bottom of the table, the tense relegation battle is set to go the wire with seven teams still fighting for survival.
With Almeria, who beat Real Mallorca 3-1, and Hercules already relegated, there is just one place left and Real Zaragoza are currently third from bottom despite a 1-0 win over Espanyol.
Zaragoza are one point behind Deportivo and Getafe — who beat Osasuna 2-0 — with Real Sociedad, Mallorca and Osasuna all two points ahead of Zaragoza.
Levante are three points above the drop zone, but they could still go down on the head-to-head ruling if they lose to Zaragoza when the two teams meet on the final day of the season.
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
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
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