The Liga Race Is Finally Over.....Thankfully

So, the Liga title race eventually comes to an end. But then again, we all knew that it had ended, didn’t we, since the end of this season's first clasico in which Madrid booted and battered the Barcelona players but still couldn’t stave them off from scoring twice in the last ten minutes for a 2-0 victory?

Of course, when we mention ‘we’, we leave out those hopelessly hopeful Madridistas who clutched onto the dim and implausible belief that FC Barcelona would hack themselves and fall down to the ground while Real Madrid would rise from the ashes like a phoenix.

And astonishingly Madrid did seem to do exactly that: rise like a phoenix. Under interim coach Juande Ramos the Blancos kept on chasing the Blaugrana even when their petrol ran low, kept on aiming at Barcelona even though their arrow had bent, tried to dig in a knife even when it was merely a penknife, kept on hissing at the Catalans even when the poison had been extricated.

17 wins in 18 league matches- and the one match they couldn't win ended in one of the best ever 1-1 draws and that too with city rivals Atletico Madrid- implied that when the second clasico of the season beckoned on May 2, Barcelona's 12 point lead at the top of the table had been trimmed to only four. A win for Madrid at the Bernabeu would reduce the gap to just one point and then the familiar Spanish phase 'Hey Liga' would be deafeningly resounding everywhere.

Only, Barcelona went onto hammer the Blancos 6-2 in a historic and perhaps the best ever clasico. The gap became seven points and Madrid's title hopes became dimmer. It didn't die fully, though, as mathematically Madrid could still win it (!). However, that notion was ripped apart at the Mestalla on May 9 when financially ruined and futuristically uncertain Valencia played the game of their lives to blast Madrid for a 3-0 victory. Barcelona needed a win against Villarreal at Camp Nou the very next day to officially start their celebrations and until the 78th minute the Blaugrana were celebrating, but then the Yellow Submarine resurfaced and scored twice in the last 13 minutes to stretch the already dead liga title race to yet another unfortunate weekend.

And finally this weekend it was all over. Rather it was all over on Saturday evening at Vila-real where hosts Villarreal defeated Madrid 3-2 in a typically entertaining Liga match at El Madrigal that saw two goals scored in two minutes towards the end that allowed the modest club to sustain their hopes of a Champions League spot for next season and condemned the Spanish giants to their first trophyless season in three years. It rendered Barcelona's match against Real Mallorca on Sunday meaningless and did make their title celebrations somewhat flat, the Catalans’ 2-1 defeat not doing much good either.

But thankfully the race that was unofficially over way back on December 13 is officially over now: Barcelona are the champions of Spain and Real Madrid finish runners-up. There will be no more ‘we can still do it' parade, no more 'they will drop points and then we will catch them’ clichés, no more pathetic hanging onto Penelopian hopes of a return. Thankfully attention in Spain can now shift to more interesting matters: like the race to finish in the Champions League places or the fight to finish in a UEFA Europa League spot. Or the fight for survival.

Or maybe Florentino Perez's neo-Galacticos era. Now, we are talking…..

Subhankar Mondal