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.
Real win not enough
Zinedine Zidane’s side were uncharacteristically nervy from the off and were made to pay after 20 minutes as Pino latched onto Gerard Moreno’s through ball before calmly finishing.
Luka Modric and Casemiro missed good chances for the hosts as the first half drew to a close. Ten minutes after the restart Karim Benzema thought he had equalised, but his header was ruled out for offisde following a lengthy VAR review.
The Frenchman finally scored three minutes from time with a neat finish before teeing up Luka Modric for an injury time winner to turn the game on its head.
Atletico finished top of the standings on 86 points while Real came second on 84. Villarreal end the season seventh, giving them a place in next year’s inaugural Europa Conference League.