Barcelona were gifted their 19th Primera Liga title without kicking a ball on Saturday when second-placed Real Madrid were beaten 3-2 at Villarreal.
Robert Pires, Cani and Joan Capdevila scored for the hosts, delivering Barca’s second piece of silverware in a week after the Catalans overcame Athletic Bilbao 4-1 in the King’s Cup final on Wednesday.
Barca can make it a treble by defeating Manchester United in the Champions League final in Rome on May 27.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“The first person I have congratulated is [coach] Pep Guardiola, and I sent a message to the whole squad,” Barca president Joan Laporta told the club’s television station.
“They have had a magnificent season, one of the best in Barcelona’s history. I am convinced they can achieve even more this season, for example, the league record of 107 goals scored,” he said.
Barca have scored 103.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Real have 78 points and two games left, eight points shy of Barcelona who were due to visit Real Mallorca yesterday.
The visitors looked short on confidence and ideas at the Madrigal and fell behind when Pires headed home Ariel Ibagaza’s cross in the 17th minute.
Real coach Juande Ramos threw on Gonzalo Higuain at half-time and the Argentine striker’s first intervention was to cross low for Rafael van der Vaart to sidefoot the equalizer from close range.
Cani drove in at the near post to make it 2-1 and although Higuain leveled with two minutes to go, Capdevila pounced on a late fumble from keeper Iker Casillas to send Real to their third consecutive defeat.
“Barcelona have to be congratulated. They have played very well and deserved the title,” Ramos told reporters. “Real played to a very high level in the second half of the season, but once their options for title went, it took a heavy toll.”
Earlier, Sevilla and Deportivo Coruna’s European aspirations were dented when they were held to draws by sides fighting to avoid relegation.
Third-placed Sevilla drew 0-0 at Osasuna with the visitors on the back foot for much of the game.
Both sides hit the crossbar and after Sevilla had Ndri Romaric sent off in the 82nd minute, Osasuna defender Sergio Fernandez was red-carded in stoppage time.
Sevilla, on 64 points, are five clear of Valencia and Villarreal as they bid to secure the third automatic Champions League qualification place.
Valencia were scheduled to visit Atletico Madrid yesterday.
Deportivo are seventh after Ivan Riki scored a late equalizer against Getafe to secure a 1-1 home draw.
Roberto Soldado had nodded the visitors in front just after the restart.
Getafe are 14th with 38 points, one more than Osasuna and four above the relegation zone.
New Taipei Kings guard Jeremy Lin on Friday was named the Taiwan Professional Basketball League’s (TPBL) Player of the Month, the first domestic player to win the award, while the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers are to welcome their third head coach in less than a year. Lin averaged 22 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists over five games in October and last month, helping the Kings to second in the standings with a 4-2 record as of Friday. The Kings last night defeated the Lioneers 96-78 to move level with the top-of-the-table Formosa Dreamers (5-2), while in the night game, the New Taipei
TO NO AVAIL: The Denver Nuggets’ Serbian center Nikola Jokic surpassed his 53-point performance in the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix The Washington Wizards withstood a 56-point explosion from Denver star Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday and snap their 16-game NBA losing streak. Jokic, who won his third NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award last season, posted a career scoring high — surpassing a 53-point performance in game four of the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix and a 50-point regular-season best against Sacramento in 2021. The Serbian big man added 16 rebounds and eight assists, but it was all to no avail as Washington, buoyed by 39 points from Jordan Poole, won for the first time
Taiwan on Wednesday finished with 15 medals at the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Hong Kong, taking home four gold, five silver and six bronze medals across the age group divisions. Taiwan ranked third on the medal table after South Korea with 17 golds and the US with eight golds at the five-day competition. “Your athletes have proven themselves as the best in the world,” World Taekwondo president Choue Chung-won said at the closing ceremony of the martial art contest that was attended by a record 1,727 athletes from around the world. On the first day of the competition at the Hong Kong
Taiwan’s Lin Cheng-jing won a bronze medal in the clean and jerk in the women’s under-49 kg division at the 2024 IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Bahrain on Saturday. Lin won her first medal at a World Weightlifting Championships for lifting 107kg in the clean and jerk in her weight class, 2kg more than Rosegie Ramos of the Philippines. However, Ramos won bronze for the combined lift after topping Lin by 5kg in the snatch. Ri Song-gum of North Korea won gold in the division’s combined lift with a total of 213kg, while Xiang Linxiang of China took silver with
RSS