Osasuna 0 - 0 Sevilla
Deportivo La Coruña 1 - 1 Getafe
Villarreal 3 - 2 Real Madrid
Numancia 1 - 0 Recreativo Huelva
Racing Santander 3 - 2 Real Valladolid
Sporting Gijón 2 - 1 Málaga
Real Betis 2 - 0 Almería
Espanyol 1 - 0 Athletic Bilbao
Mallorca 2 - 1 Barcelona
Atlético Madrid 1 - 0 Valencia
So that is that, with Real Madrid losing at Villarreal on Saturday night nothing could stop Barcelona becoming champions. Real were in predictably inconsistent form in Castellon, falling behind early to a Robert Pires header from a lovely Ariel Ibagaza cross. Rafael Van Der Vaart, a candidate for Most Unsuccessful Signing of the Season, equalised just after the restart before Cani's close range strike regained the Yellow Submarine the lead. Gonzalo Higuain then looked to have rescued a point for Juande Ramos's men with two minues left only for Joan Capdevilla to capitalise on an Iker Casillas spillage to wrap up a potentially vital 3 points for Villarreal who are now two points off 4th and level with Valencia.
With Arsene Wenger set to rebuff Florentino Perez's overtures for a third time this week, Perez and his underling Jorge Valdano are likely to turn their attention to Manuel Pellegrini who is highly regarded for the job he has done with Villarreal. Juande Ramos, having lost two El Clasicos, is likely to find himself without a job and could yet make his way south to link up with Atletico, who are also interested in Quique Sanchez Flores who is likely to be fired by Benfica. So watch this space.
That meant that Pep Guardiola could relax and field a weakened side in the Balearics, and despite going ahead through Samuel Eto'o's 29th of the season, Mallorca came away with all three points after Juan Arango struck a superb free kick and Cleber Santana grabbed the winner in the second half. Barcelona are worthy champions and are sweating on the fitness of Andres Iniesta and Thierry Henry ahead of their potentially treble-making match in Rome next week.
Sevilla were held at Osasuna, who are now back in the relegation mire having gone winless in six and scored just one goal in their last four games. Sevilla look to have third place still secure despite their recent poor form, although it may not be enough to safeguard Manolo Jiminez's job. Atletico Madrid moved into fourth after a nervy 1-0 victory over Valencia at the Calderon, courtesy of a Diego Forlan penalty. Contrary to the opinions aired on Revista this week, this reporter believes Valencia had two goals CORRECTLY chalked off for offside. Atletico may yet, against all the odds, finish in the top four despite having one of the leakiest defences in Western Europe.
Deportivo are still very much in the UEFA cup mix at least (its probably a stretch for them to make top 4 now) but they were disappointed to be held at home to Getafe. Roberto Soldado scored his 12th of the season to give the visitors the lead before Riki pounced for the equaliser. Malaga, meanwhile, suffered a shock defeat to Sporting Gijon (their first win in 9) after goals from Autet and a Helder Rosario own goal. Real Betis upset the odds by beating in-form Almeria thanks to goals from Mark Gonzalez and Arzu; Racing had Nikola Zigic to thank for their win over Valladolid, he scored after Valladolid had taken a 2-1 lead only for Jonatan Perreira to equalise.
Numancia dramatically increased their survival prospects, leapfrogging weekend opponents Recreativo in the process thanks to a controverisal penalty from Jose Barkero after a foul on Brit that looked outside the box. Recre were incensed and they are now 4 points from safety with two games left. Espanyol continued their great form beating Athletic at the Montjuic.
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