Suarez delivers La Liga title to Atletico Madrid
MADRID: Atletico Madrid were crowned La Liga champions for the first time since 2014 on Saturday as veteran striker Luis Suarez scored the winner in a 2-1 victory over Valladolid.
Real Madrid too beat Villarreal 2-1 but that was not enough to overhaul a two-point deficit.
Suarez scored in the 58th minute after Angel Correa had equalised Oscar Plano’s opener for Valladolid.
Valladolid took a shock lead in the 18th minute when Plano slotted past Jan Oblak to complete a sweeping counterattack after Yannick Carrasco had lost control of the ball following an Atletico corner.
Real trailed at home to a 20th-minute goal by Yeremi
Pino for Villarreal. Karim Benzema’s late headed equaliser and Luka Modric’s last-minute goal gave Real victory but it was too little, too late as Atletico claimed the title for the 11th time in their history.
An acrobatic late effort from Antoine Griezmann saw Barcelona confirm a third-placed finish in La Liga for the season, as they crept past already relegated Eibar 1-0.
Just as they had done in last week’s comeback win over Osasuna, Atletico missed a series of clear opportunities but they drew level after a moment of magic from Angel Correa, who danced his way through the defence before arrowing into the bottom corner in the 57th minute.
Suarez then pounced on a giveaway by the Valladolid defence to score in the 67th and put Atletico on their way to a victory that would secure the title no matter what happened in Real Madrid’s game at home to Villarreal.