Real Madrid win 34th La Liga with 2-1 victory over Villarreal

Real Madrid have been confirmed as Spanish champions for a record 34th time after a 2-1 win against Villarreal on Thursday evening.

Zinedine Zidane has thus completed his second coming as manager to yet another league title

Karim Benzema scored both goals, firing Real in front before the break before adding a second-half penalty, to wrestle La Liga back from Barcelona after two years, according to a Daily Mirror report.

Vicente Iborra pulled one back for Villarreal and Marco Asensio had a strike ruled out for handball deep into stoppage time. Nigeria’s Samuel Chukwueze stars for Villarreal.

With only one round of matches left to play, Madrid went seven points clear at the top of the table ahead of Barca, whose form and finances have been ruined by the coronavirus.

Quique Setien’s side were beaten 2-1 by Osasuna at the Nou Camp, despite Lionel Messi’s second-half strike.

The celebrations were almost suitably restrained for a low-key season, during which Real Madrid have been criticised for a reliance on one-goal wins and set pieces.

While they have put together an enviable streak since the restart – winning all 10 league games and scoring 19 goals while keeping six clean sheets, conceding just four – Real had gone into the unplanned break in the campaign two points behind Barcelona.

The title was won without any fans present at the 6,000-seater Alfredo di Stefano stadium inside the club’s training complex, where they have been playing their behind closed doors home games in order to speed up the renovation work at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The usual trophy-lifting party, which traditionally centres on the Cibeles Fountain in Madrid, as well as the open-top bus parade through the streets of the Spanish capital, will have to wait, with the club and the mayor asking fans to stay away from the city centre.