BARCELONA - La Liga heads into its last round of matches on
Sunday with the title already decided but the repercussions still
very much playing out.
Barcelona go away to Alaves with coach Quique Setien's job on the
line after he oversaw a defeat to Osasuna at the Camp Nou on
Thursday.
Real Madrid beat Villarreal to lift their 34th title so Barcelona's
result had no bearing on the race to win La Liga but the manner of
their defeat could end with the coach being dismissed.
Asked if he would still be in job ahead of the Champions League game
against Napoli next month, Setien said: "I think so, yes. I do not
know but I hope so."
He has already received the thumbs down from Barcelona's most
important figure Lionel Messi who gave his damning verdict on the
season after the loss.
"I said a while ago that if we carried on like this it would be
really difficult to win the Champions League and our form hasn't even
been good enough to win La Liga," Messi said. "If we don't react, we
won't beat Napoli.
"We didn't want to end La Liga this way, but it reflects how our
season has gone.
"We were an inconsistent, weak team, teams beat us for intensity and
scored against us easily. We lost a lot of points that we should not
have lost."
The despair at Barcelona contrasts starkly with the delight at Real
Madrid.
Real Madrid's president Florentino Perez called for Karim Benzema to
be given the Ballon d'Or as the world's best player after he scored
his 20th and 21st goals of the season to hand his team the title in a
2-1 win over Villarreal.
"Benzema should be the Ballon d'Or," said Madrid's president. "I have
not seen any player have as good a year as him."
Benzema still has a chance of finishing the season as La Liga's top
scorer. Real Madrid's French forward has 21 goals for the season and
is just two behind 23-goal Messi.
Real Madrid visit Leganes on the last day of the season. Javier
Aguirre's team go into the last round of matches with a chance of
avoiding relegation.
They beat Athletic Bilbao 2-0 on Thursday and need to beat Real
Madrid and for Celta Vigo to slip-up on the last day against Espanyol
who are already down.
In other matters still to be decided Real Sociedad and Getafe have a
place in next season's Europa League in their own hands.
La Real play Atletico Madrid while Getafe face Levante. If either of
those two slip-up then Valencia and Granada could grab seventh spot
by winning their games at Champions League-bound Sevilla and home to
Athletic Bilbao respectively.
Games for Real Sociedad and Valencia will not be straightforward
because Atletico Madrid need a draw to secure third, while Sevilla
could leapfrog them if they slip-up and they pick up a win.
In the remaining fixtures Valladolid face Betis, Osasuna play
relegated Mallorca, and Villarreal are home to Eibar.