Ronaldo breaks record: Final weekend round up

Published on May 22, 2011 by Jamie McGregor · No Comments

Although the relegation fight dominated the final weekend of the 2010/2011 Spanish season, there were five other matches taking place. At the Bernabéu, Real Madrid finished their season with a 8-1 thrashing of bottom side Almería. Two of the goals were scored by Cristiano Ronaldo which took his total tally of league goals to 41, a new Spanish record. The other goals came courtesy of Adebayor (hat-trick), Benzema (two) and youngster Joselu. Almería’s solitary strike came from Kalu Uche. Real Madrid’s emphatic win meant José Mourinho’s side finished season as the league’s highest scorers with 102 goals, 7 more than champions Barcelona.

The Catalan side finished off their season with a 1-3 win away to Málaga. With the Champions League final coming up next week, Guardiola decided to rest the vast majority of his first team and Barcelona’s second string fell behind to a Seba Fernández strike on 31 minutes. Just before the break the visitors drew level when Bojan scored from the penalty spot. With fifteen minutes to go Afellay put Barcelona ahead and on 85 minutes Marc Bartra wrapped up the three points when he headed home a Dani Alves corner.

The European places had already been decided but the fight for fifth place was still on going into the last week. That place was taken by Sevilla who won 2-3 away to Espanyol. It took the visitors just two minutes to take the lead as Negredo continued his good run of form in front of goal. A minute into the second half, Kanouté doubled Sevilla’s lead before Osvaldo pulled one back on 54 minutes. Negredo added his second on 62 minutes before Verdú finished off the scoring on 72 minutes.

Sevilla’s victory meant they held off pressure from Athletic Bilbao who finished the season with a 1-2 win away to Racing Santander. Two goals in a minute from Lopez and Llorente put Athletic in command, however, a late goal from Kennedy led to a nervous finish for the Basques.

Finally, Hércules bid goodbye to La Liga with a goalless draw at home to Sporting Gijón. Despite having the better chances throughout, the team from Alicante couldn’t give their fans something to cheer ahead of life back in Segunda.