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Dhaka Tribune

Atletico crowned La Liga champions

Atletico held off nearest challengers Real by two points to win the championship for the 11th time in the club's history

Update : 23 May 2021, 12:05 AM

Atletico Madrid won the La Liga title for the first time since 2014 after coming from behind to secure a 2-1 win at Real Valladolid in their final match of the season Saturday.

They held off nearest challengers Real Madrid by two points to win the championship for the 11th time in the club's history.

Real ended the season second in La Liga despite a late 2-1 win over Villarreal at home Saturday.

Real finished the campaign on 84 points, two behind the champions.

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 equalized, but his header was ruled out for offisde following a lengthy Video Assistant Referee review.

The Frenchman finally scored three minutes from time with a neat finish before teeing up Modric for an injury time winner to turn the game on its head.

Villarreal end the season seventh, giving them a place in next year's inaugural Europa Conference League.

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 Saturday.

Coach Ronald Koeman named a much-changed starting XI, with Lionel Messi, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Gerard Pique, Clement Lenglet, Jordi Alba and Pedri all absent, and initially it showed in a somewhat disjointed first half.

Defender Oscar Mingueza was required to make a crucial block early on after Frenkie de Jong lost the ball in a dangerous area in an otherwise uneventful first 45 minutes.

With the game seemingly destined for a draw, it sparked to life in the closing stages.

On 81 minutes Griezmann smashed in from an acute angle following good work from Ousmane Dembele.

Barca were given a scare four minutes from time when Takashi Inui saw an effort smash back off the crossbar, however the Catalans held out to secure the three points.

They end the campaign on 79 points, seven behind champions Atletico and five off second-placed Real.

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