Real Madrid celebrated their league title triumph in style by crushing arch-rivals Barcelona 4-1 at the Bernabeu yesterday and helping deprive the Catalans of an automatic place in the Champions League.
FC Barcelona player Leo Messi is tackled by Real Madrid player Pepe during their Spanish League soccer match at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, yesterday.
First-half goals from Raul and Arjen Robben, a classy strike from Gonzalo Higuain and a Ruud van Nistelrooy penalty earned Bernd Schuster's side an emphatic win that delighted the home fans packed into the rain-soaked stadium.
Defeat for Barcelona, combined with Villarreal's 2-0 victory at relegation-threatened Recreativo Huelva left the Catalans seven points behind Manuel Pellegrini's side who will now finish second in the standings, their best finish in the league.
Villarreal's Turkish striker Nihat Kahveci took his tally this season to 18 with a curling free kick early in the second half and Mexico striker Guillermo Franco made sure of the win late in the game.
With two matches left to play, champions Real lead the table on 81 points, 10 ahead of Villarreal and 17 clear of Barca who have won just one of their last seven games.
"We wanted to celebrate the title with our fans and play a great game and we did that," Schuster told a news conference. "The attitude of the players was superb."
Atletico Madrid, who play Espanyol on Thursday, are in fourth a further six points back, level with Sevilla who won 3-0 at Racing Santander.
