Zinedine Zidane has led Real Madrid to their 34th Liga title with a 2-1 win over Villarreal at the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium, leaving Barcelona seven points behind them with one match remaining after their rivals lost at home.
A relentless run of nine wins in a row left Zidane’s side knowing that they would win the league for the first time since the 2016/17 season if Barcelona failed to beat Osasuna at home, and final-day permutations proved academic as their main rivals lost 2-1 to their midtable visitors, registering no shots on target in the first half.
Madrid’s triumphant night began when winger Jose Arnaiz gave Osasuna a surprise lead at Barca, meeting a cross with a fine strike after little more than a quarter of an hour in an early blow that might have made beleaguered boss Quique Setien grateful that there were no fans watching on from the stands.
Even when he is quiet, Messi is a formidable force and the Argentina forward hit the crossbar from a free-kick after 23 minutes despite his side failing to show anything approaching the dominance that Madrid were enjoying.
Karim Benzema’s 20th goal of the season for Real Madrid in Laliga. This mf don’t misspic.twitter.com/Fqr1rP4hhs
Karim Benzema is the only player who has a realistic chance of catching Messi at the top of the Liga scoring charts and the Frenchman eased any Madrid nerves with the opener at the Bernabeu after 29 minutes, accepting the chance to score his 20th goal of the season by capitalizing on a pass from Luka Modric that put him through on goal.
At the Camp Nou, Martin Braithwaite had the ball in the net before half-time but the goal was ruled out after Messi was adjudged to have been offside when he set up the Denmark striker.
Messi, whose performance had been questioned by many at the break, then went one better than his most eye-catching set piece of the first half by curling in a free-kick 17 minutes after half-time.
62′ Lionel Messi scores vs Osasuna. 1-1. (Great Goal) pic.twitter.com/BwoU0WuWhl
Allied with a reasonable penalty claim for Villarreal after some last-ditch goalkeeping by Thibaut Courtois, the warning signs might have been faintly flickering for Madrid, and Barca almost took the lead when Luis Suarez – on for Braithwaite – scored from a Messi pass only to be ruled offside.
Their anxieties were all but entirely allayed 17 minutes from time, albeit in convoluted, farcical fashion.
Sergio Ramos raced into the penalty area from the halfway line and won a penalty that was checked by VAR before Ramos showboated by rolling the penalty into the path of Benzema for an easy finish.
What a penalty ????‼️#RealMadridVillarreal#RealMadrid#LaLiga#LaLigaSantander#rmliga#madrid#penalty#ramos#benzema#lazabawapic.twitter.com/7OHvByFxYR
An element of chaos ensued as the officials penalized Benzema for entering the penalty area before the kick was taken, forcing a retake that Benzema scored himself to close to within two goals of Messi’s season total again.
Fifth-placed Villarreal hit back with a Vicente Iborra header from a Mario Gaspar cross six minutes from time but Madrid were not to be denied despite Sofian Chakla going close after confusion in the penalty area in the closing minutes.
The icing on the cake arrived when Roberto Torres added a winner for Osasuna in the final seconds at Barcelona.
Madrid, who are one Liga title behind their four Champions League victories since 2012, will now turn their attentions to their visit to Manchester City in that competition on August 7, when they will need to overturn a 2-1 first-leg deficit to reach the quarter-finals.
