I can’t recall the last time there was nothing to play for on the final weekend of the La Liga season.
Absolutely zilch; zero; nada. The title long won; the European spots all secured; the bottom three firmly relegated with no-one close by.
In that sense, the SBOTOP La Liga betting odds would have offered few surprises before kick-offs.
Yet that is not to say we were going to be denied a weekend of La Liga highlights.
I will begin with, in my mind, the team of the season (jointly with Bayer Leverkusen).
Regular readers will know of my admiration for Girona; the club from the city whose population is less than 100,000 people, which has a ground which holds only 14,624, some of them on scaffolding stands, and has qualified for Europe – and the Champions League at that – for the first time in its history.
Well, the team has just finished third in the top flight and hit a ‘magnificent seven’ at home to relegated Granada on Friday night to finish in some style.
It was also a night in which Artem Dovbyk pulled one clear as La Liga’s top scorer in his bid to become the first Ukrainian marksman to win the Pichichi Trophy.
He netted a hat-trick as the Catalan club chalked up the biggest victory in their history.
Eric Garcia and Viktor Tsygankov both found the net before Dovbyk scored his first of the game from the penalty spot a minute before half-time.
Tsygankov scored his second early in the second half before Dovbyk struck twice either side of a Cristhian Stuani goal.
It took Dovbyk’s tally to 24, one ahead of Alexander Sorloth – fresh from a 17-minute hat-trick against champions Real Madrid – whose Villarreal side were in action against Osasuna on Saturday lunchtime.
Sorloth’s hopes of at least drawing level at the top of the scoring charts came to an end early on as, just 17 minutes into the match at El Sadar, he was forced off with an injury, ending his hopes of a first-ever Pichichi.
The honour belongs to Dovbyk.
On Saturday night, the final match of the season at the Bernabeu was one of fond farewells, both to a Real Madrid legend and a player who has been on the fringes but certainly played his part when called upon.
Kepa signed on a season-long loan last summer following Thibaut Courtois’ ACL injury, and although he was number one for the first few months, he lost the spot to Andriy Lunin just before the end of 2023.
The contest between the runaway Spanish champions and seventh-placed Betis ended goalless as Real prepare for next weekend’s Champions League Final.
Onto Sunday and Mallorca had the most dramatic finish to their season.
Trailing at Getafe to a 48th-minute Gaston Alvarez goal, they scored twice in the final moments to seal a farewell victory for manager Javier Aguirre.
Ninety minutes was on the clock when Muriqi headed past substitute goalkeeper Forsato.
Two minutes later, the quick-thinking Manu Morlanes took a free kick, finding Pablo Maffeo who cut inside and chipped in the winner and secured only their second away league victory since last September.
Aguirre’s replacement is already known, with Jagoba Arrasate agreeing to take the reins when he leaves Osasuna
The game had been marred in the 73rd minute by a collision involving home goalkeeper David Soria who lay motionless and received treatment for around a quarter of an hour from the medical team before leaving for hospital.
The final match of the 2023-24 season – a meeting between Sevilla and Barcelona – was a contest in which both teams would have hoped had been of far more importance.
In the end, it was simply another goodbye. This time to Barca club legend Xavi Hernandez, a decision which has reportedly split the fan base.
The former Spanish international initially opted to change position over his call to leave at the end of the season.
Club president Joan Laporta initially talked Xavi into staying before then changing his mind.
Before the match, he penned a farewell letter to what he described as the ‘club of his life’, thanking fans for their support and affection.
He was able to sign off with victory too.
Robert Lewandowski had got the Catalans off to an ideal start with a smart early finish in Andalusia before Sevilla rallied before the break with Youssef En-Nesyri levelled things up.
A close contest went the way of the league runners-up when young midfielder Fermin Lopez – one of a number of young talent Xavi has graduated into the first team – crashed home his eighth league goal of the campaign.
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