Good day
Barcelona
With little, bowl-headed Bojan wearing the captainâÂÂs armband for Barcelona as reward for a splendid A- in PE, LLL feared the worst for PepâÂÂs Dream Boys at Málaga.
A defeat for Barça would have left a table reflecting the fact that Real Madrid had lost the league by a single point, something Marca would no doubt have dined-out on for the entire summer. Instead, the mini-Dream Boys came away from the south coast with a 3-1 victory to give Barça a four point advantage over Madrid after 38 games.
Unfortunately, thatâÂÂs still not enough for the Catalan club to top MarcaâÂÂs own referee-adjusted league table, which was unsurprisingly headed by Madrid after the paper took away points from UEFAâÂÂs favourite pets (allegedly).
Tomás Roncero, writing in AS, attempts a magnanimous congratulations to the Camp Nou club by indirectly informing FA president Angel Villar that he was "not going to remind you of the ten points the referees took from Madrid and the six they gave the champions. ThatâÂÂs the way the script was.âÂÂ
Cristiano Ronaldo
ItâÂÂs a hearty congratulations for Ronaldo who 'did a Ronaldinho' (that's picking up a hefty brace, to you...) in the 8-1 thrashing of relegated AlmerÃÂa to become SpainâÂÂs greatest goal scorer in a season with 40.
LLL says a big well done to the Portuguese superstar, you can only score against whatâÂÂs in front of you, after all - but Alfredo di Stefano is in a less charitable mood. Writing in MondayâÂÂs Marca the Madrid legend said; âÂÂI âÂÂm left with the feeling that such publicity for a record has been searched for,â after a failure to win the league or reach the Champions League final.
Aitor Karanka wonâÂÂt hear of such heresy by boasting of MadridâÂÂs eight goals against AlmerÃÂa and 102 for the league season. âÂÂFor a team that doesnâÂÂt play football and is defensive, thatâÂÂs not bad,â snarked MadridâÂÂs second coach in place of the still silent José Mourinho.
Interestingly, 102 is the same total that Manuel Pellegrini managed for Real Madrid before being sacked...
Roberto Soldado
Having already struggled to keep a straight face after scoring four goals at former club Getafe earlier this season, the Valencia forward had to repeat his glum, not celebrating face after scoring the 95th minute goal which sealed Deportivo's relegation from la Primera. Soldado had a strong first year at the Mestalla, scoring 18 goals, but still only managed just over half of the 32 scored by David Villa, the player he replaced.
Alvaro Negredo
The SevillaâÂÂs strikers cracking brace against Espanyol leaves the moody marauder on 20 and topping the ranks as the best Spanish forward of the campaign, two ahead of Soldado, David Villa and Fernando Llorente, a figure which says rather a lot about the strength in depth of Spanish forwards these days.
Athletic Bilbao
Two goals in two minutes to defeat Racing Santander were enough to secure Athletic Bilbao a sixth-placed finish. Hooray!
Kun Agüero
The almost certainly departing Atlético man signed off his Rojiblanco career with 101 goals - the last three coming from a brilliant hat-trick against Mallorca in a 4-3 thriller. Unfortunately, victories for Athletic Bilbao and Sevilla still sees Atlético in seventh and facing a Europa League play-off at the end of July.
Osasuna
If Osasuna coach José Luis Mendilibar wasnâÂÂt Spanish, then heâÂÂd definitely be a gritty, bite-yer-knees Scottish manager - perfect, in fact, for gritty, bite-yer-knees Osasuna who managed four wins from their last five games to finish ninth in the table despite being in danger of relegation on the last day.
Gabi
Morally, Zaragoza deserved to go down for being big old ball-chucking, non transfer fee-paying cheats, but the fighting spirit of manager Javier Aguirre and two goals from Gabi were enough to keep Zaragoza up in the end.
Real Sociedad & Getafe
With Deportivo and Zaragoza both expected to win, the third team to be relegated this year was thought to be coming from this particular encounter. But with Deportivo and Mallorca looking in more danger of the drop than this Primera pair, the game stopped being a competitive one in the final third with a point just fine for both.
Mallorca
Relying on Deportivo not to score turned out to be a solid bet for Mallorca, who were only a flukey shot from Depor 'not-shot' Riki away from relegation on Saturday night, despite having not dipped below 13th place in la Primera since round four.
Bad Day
Espanyol
An eighth-placed finish in la Primera, but Espanyol fans were not happy at all during SaturdayâÂÂs 3-2 home defeat to Sevilla. HereâÂÂs Paul from Barcelona who was sitting - whilst protesting - in the stands to tell us what happened...
âÂÂWell thatâÂÂs that. Another season over and relegation avoided, in the end by six points. At the beginning of the year I would have taken that.
The match was played in a muted atmosphere due to a sit down protest against the constant sale of our best players. I know, in an all-seater stadium, right? The fans even cut back on the chanting to give us that Camp Nou vibe.
The match was basically Ivan de la PeñaâÂÂs testimonial, more on that later. Two brilliant goals by Alvaro Negredo and a Kanouté tap-in were SevillaâÂÂs only contribution. Odd, but true. Espanyol replied with an Osvaldo volley and a fab goal by Verdu from a great Osvaldo pass. He, Osvaldo, stayed on the pitch after the De La Peña tribute to wave to the crowd. I know goodbye when I see it.
Ok, Ivan de la Peña on his day was as good as Xavi, ask Xavi who he copied, but on a bad day he was awful. A humble guy who had a great talent but should have scored way more goals than he did. I wish him luck in the future. Much loved for his from the heart celebration against Barça when he scored two goals at the Camp Nou.
A season that promised so much finished as a damp squid. Next year will be tough as, as it stands, itâÂÂll be Verdu and 10 others. Thanks to Tim for another great season and I wish all LLL and FourFourTwo.com readers (Especially Mike from TE) a great summer.âÂÂ
Paul, Barcelona
Deportivo
LLL has been fairly meanie-headed to Deportivo all season due their frackinâ awful football stylings, so it wouldnâÂÂt be right to come across all concerned and caring following the clubâÂÂs relegation. Deportivo finished third-from-bottom of the table, scored the fewest goals, played the worst football, had Riki in their ranks and approached matches delicately and defensively like someone trying to fish a contact lens out of a waspâÂÂs nest. ItâÂÂs tough titties all round.
Hércules
The Alicante side signed off a largely woeful campaign with a goalless draw against Sporting in front of just 7,500 fans with the union between club, players and supporters having been broken during a troubled year.
AlmerÃÂa
Signed off from Primera duty by shipping eight goals in a league game for the second time this season. Cheerio to them, then...
