Barcelona finished what it started at Camp Nou this season. Nineteen matches, nineteen wins. The Catalan club closed out a perfect home La Liga schedule with a 3-1 victory over Real Betis on Sunday, marking the occasion with another kind of finality.
Robert Lewandowski bid an emotional farewell to the fans who watched him score 119 times in 192 appearances across four season s. Barcelona announced Saturday that the 37-year-old striker would leave the club after this campaign — the Polish forward helped the team win three Spanish league titles in four years, including this season, along with one Copa del Rey.
The table did the dramatic work without asking anyone to dress it up.
The goals came from Raphinha, who scored twice, and João Cancelo. Nothing fancy, just the work done. After the final whistle, Lewandowski was tossed in the air by his teammates — an old tradition that looksawkward from the outside but means the world in the moment.
Griezmann's own exit, Atletico's tribute
Antoine Griezmann also said goodbye at the Metropolitano, though the timing was different. The French forward is leaving Atletico Madrid for Major League Soccer, and he used his post-match interview to apologize to fans once more for the move that brought him here or iginally.
"I didn't realize how much I loved you here," Griezmann said. "I was very young. I made a mistake, I reconsidered, and we did everything we could to come back and enjoy it again."
Atletico beat Girona 1-0 in his farewell match. Coach Diego Simeone offered simpler praise: "Griezmann is possibly the best one to have ever played here. He's an extraordinary guy, a genius."
Sevilla stays up, Madrid takes second
Real Madrid ensured second place in the table with a 1-0 win at Sevilla, Vinícius Júnior providing the goal. Kylian Mbappé started the match three days after publicly stating he was the team's fourth-choice striker — a detail that did not seem to affect his selection on the day.
Sevilla lost but survived. The And alousian club avoided relegation thanks to other results going its way across the league. Alaves also confirmed its top-tier status with a 1-0 victory at already-relegated Oviedo.
The fight to stay up enters its final round with five clubs at risk: Levante sits 15th on 42 points, level with 16th-place Osasuna and 17th-place Elche. Directly below the line are Girona (40), Mallorca (39) and Oviedo (29).