MADRID, May 17 (Agencies): Barcelona retained their La Liga crown as they thrashed Real Valladolid 4-0 at home amid a carnival atmosphere at the Nou Camp.
After an uncharacteristically rocky start from Barca, nerves were settled when Luis Prieto inexplicably turned the ball into his own net under no pressure in the 27th minute.
Pedro then doubled the Barca lead four minutes later, and a brace from Lionel Messi in the second capped the win and saw the brilliant Argentinian match Ronaldo�s record of scoring 47 goals in all competitions, 34 of them coming in the league.
Real Madrid, who began the day only one point behind Barcelona, fell behind against Malaga as Sergio Duda scored in the ninth minute.
Rafael van der Vaart equalised early in the second half, but Real could not find a winner as they fell three points behind their arch-rivals.
The surprise draw saved Malaga from the drop as they finished 17th, one point above both Valladolid and Tenerife, 1-0 losers to Valencia as Alexis Ruano grabbed an 89th-minute winner for Los Che, who deserved the victory despite making hard work of scoring.
Xerez will join those two in the Segunda Division as they took only a point from a 1-1 draw at Osasuna.
The hosts grabbed the lead through Dady in the 55th minute. Xerez refused to die, equalising through Antonito Perez six minutes later, but even a winner would not have saved them in the end.
Racing Santander wrapped up their season with a 2-0 win over Sporting Gijon as Mohamed Tchite scored a goal in each half. Substitute Rodri scored a late, late winner for 10-man Sevilla in a 3-2 victory at Almeria on Saturday, sending his side into the Champions League and breaking Real Mallorca�s hearts.
With Mallorca beating Espanyol and Sevilla level after 90 minutes, it seemed the islanders were heading into Europe�s elite after a fine season.
But 19-year-old Rodri, a product of Sevilla�s youth system, came off the bench to finish acrobatically four minutes into stoppage time.
Almeria had twice levelled to keep Mallorca on the brink, through Fernando Soriano and Juanma Ortiz, after Frederic Kanoute and a Chico own goal has given Sevilla leads.
Sevilla also played the last 25 minutes with 10 men after Alvaro Negredo saw red.
Mallorca thought they had done enough with goals from Victor Casadesus in the first half and substitute Mario Suarez in the second as they beat Espanyol 2-0, but they then stood shocked on the pitch as news of Sevilla�s late winner came through.
Getafe made sure of a place in next season�s Europa League with a convincing 3-0 win at an Atletico Madrid side with one eye on the Copa del Rey final.
With the Copa final against Sevilla looming on Wednesday and celebrations having barely come to an end following their Europa League final win against Fulham in Hamburg in midweek, home coach Quique Sanchez Flores named a much-changed Atletico line-up.
And Getafe took full advantage with Roberto Soldado scoring twice and substitute Daniel Parejo adding a late third to ensure Michel�s men will finish in sixth position.
Villarreal fought back from 3-0 down to earn a point in a 3-3 draw at Real Zaragoza but still missed out on a place in Europe. The Yellow Submarine found themselves three goals down within 35 minutes, as Eliseu Pereira, Adrian Colunga and Ruben Pulido gave Zaragoza what appeared an unassailable lead. Santi Cazorla gave the visitors hope, though, and the Spain winger stuck a second early in the second half to make things interesting.
Giuseppe Rossi completed a memorable comeback with the equaliser eight minutes from time, but Villarreal were unable to find a winning goal.
Athletic Bilbao finished the season on a high with a 2-0 win at home to Deportivo La Coruna as Joseba Etxeberria played his last ever competitive match for the Basque outfit following more than 500 appearances for the club since 2002.
