Dammit Real win La Liga (2 Viewers)

gray

Senior Member
Moderator
Apr 22, 2003
30,260
#1
Ronaldo leads Real to 29th Liga title

MADRID, June 22 (Reuters) - Real Madrid won the Spanish league title for the 29th time on Sunday as two goals from Ronaldo and a thunderous Roberto Carlos free kick earned them a 3-1 victory over Athletic Bilbao.

On a nerve-jangling final night of a long Spanish league season, second-placed Real Sociedad won 3-0 at home to Atletico Madrid to ensure that nothing less than victory would be good enough for Real Madrid.


With Real leading 2-1 at halftime in Madrid that was far from a formality, but a second strike from Ronaldo just past the hour mark gave them the breathing space they needed.

Real Madrid coach Vicente del Bosque had the luxury of substituting Ronaldo to an ear-splitting ovation in the closing minutes before his side were crowned champions amid a spectacular firework display at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.

Real Madrid finish the season with 78 points from 38 matches, two points ahead of runners-up Real Sociedad.

'We have suffered enormously over the course of the year and only after the third goal could we really relax,' said Real's sporting director Jorge Valdano.

'The league is always important and very difficult to win and that's why we are so delighted.'

SECOND PLACE

While Real Madrid were celebrating their second league title in three years, Sociedad had to settle for second place despite a comfortable 3-0 win at home to Atletico with goals from Darko Kovacevic, Javi de Pedro and Nihat Kahveci.

Their consolation will be a place in the group stage of the Champions League, a remarkable achievement in itself after three years spent struggling against relegation.

Deportivo Coruna, with 72 points, and Celta Vigo, on 61, were already assured of finishing third and fourth and taking the remaining Champions League places..

Last season's champions Valencia finished fifth on 60 points and go through to the UEFA Cup first round.

In the only other outstanding issue of the league season, Barcelona pipped Athletic Bilbao to a UEFA Cup place with a 2-0 win at home to Celta that took them up to sixth on 56 points.

Juan Pablo Sorin headed in the first for Barca on eight minutes and just after the break Javier Saviola wrapped up victory for the Catalans, who thus preserve their record of never missing a season of European competition.

Recreativo Huelva, Alaves and Rayo Vallecano were already relegated ahead of the final day, to be replaced by Murcia, Albacete and Real Zaragoza from division two.

VICTORY NEEDED

Real Madrid went into the last weekend of the season needing victory over Bilbao or a slip-up from Real Sociedad.

Del Bosque's side got the start they wanted when Luis Figo found Roberto Carlos in space down the left. The Brazilian turned the ball back in for Ronaldo, who struck left-footed while leaning back to open the scoring.

Raul had two good chances to add to the tally before Bilbao got their equaliser, a Bittor Alkiza strike that squeezed inside the near post.

Real looked rattled but recovered their poise when Ronaldo was brought down on the edge of the box in first-half injury time and Roberto Carlos cracked in a low free kick.

Real Sociedad went in level at halftime after a goalless first period but pulled clear of Atletico just after the break to put the pressure on their title rivals.

Real Madrid were ahead but looking far from comfortable until Ronaldo took a pass from Zinedine Zidane and smashed in his second goal of the game.

Real Madrid's victory secures yet another triumph for unassuming coach Vicente del Bosque, who has now guided them to two league titles and two European Cups since he took charge in November 1999.
 

Buy on AliExpress.com
Sep 28, 2002
13,975
#2
yeah. real shame. i hoped so much that sociedad could do that. but in the end they failed. oh well, i guess they just weren't ready for victories. hope that they can do better in future. anyway, it's nice to see minor (?) teams performing well in la liga, maybe due to fact that i dont like spanish teams
 

bongo10

Junior Member
Jun 11, 2003
391
#6
2 bad for other Real they played good all year long and at the end loose the tittle to R.Madrid i feel really bad and i can't even imagine how the players feel
 

Zizou

Senior Member
Apr 21, 2003
3,965
#7
Ronaldo won his first ever league after all these years, now he won't be dubbed 'eternal league loser' anymore :D Well at least he didn't win a league when he was in Italy ;)

Feel sorry for sociedad, but at the end of the day the better team won. Sociedad had been leading the league for nearly all the season, but screwed up last week. Most of their best players are sought by half of europe now, so I think they will end up like Leverkusen (well maybe not that low).
 

Sarah_old

Senior Member
Jul 30, 2002
1,766
#8
I am happy for Real (obviously) :), but Sociedad losing is not a big loss. They've shown how great they are this season. At least they've won their last game 3-0. It's really something...
 

Signor

Senior Member
Jul 13, 2002
3,018
#9
now I think Ronaldo is a strong Contender for the Fifa player of the year and the golden ball............OMG :eek: Poor Nedved..:down:
 

Dragon

Senior Member
Apr 24, 2003
27,407
#12
stupid ronaldo but as i said real sociedad lost the title last week, they should have won that game and won the league. its okay after all theyre only champions of spains, were champions of italy and runner ups of europe
 

Hydde

Minimiliano Tristelli
Mar 6, 2003
38,703
#15
Throw an atomic bomb at Bernabeu and kill the whole team. Including the Spice one. And florentino perez of course, he is insane.

After all, im still happy that juve eliminated real buahahahaha.
 

Dj Juve

Senior Member
Jul 12, 2002
9,597
#19
hey guess WHAT?

Del Bosque and Hierro axed

Real Madrid have sacked coach Vicente del Bosque and veteran defender Fernando Hierro, according to Spanish radio reports. The news comes less than 24 hours after Madrid clinched their 29th Spanish title with a 3-1 win over Athletic Bilbao
 

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