Suarez-led Barcelona fends off Real Madrid for La Liga title
Barcelona is the champion of La Liga again after a 3-0 win over Granada clinched the title on the league's final day.
Despite Real Madrid beating Deportivo de La Coruña 2-0, Barcelona prevailed by a point. Luis Suarez's hat trick secured the title for Barcelona, which knew it just needed a win on the final day of the season to wrap up its second straight title, its third in the last four season, six in the last eight and 24th all time.
Real Madrid was hoping for help from Granada while taking care of its own business, and Cristiano Ronaldo got Real Madrid's quest started early, tallying in the seventh minute to open the scoring at Estadio Riazor. He finished off an unselfish sequence involving Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema to score his 50th in all competitions this season–a sixth straight season hitting that milestone.
At Granada, Gerard Pique had a header cleared off the line, keeping Barcelona at bay in the opening minutes.
Luis Suarez tilted the balance back to Barcelona, though, finishing off a cross from Jordi Alba inside the six-yard box in the 21st minute.
Ronaldo netted his second moments later, somewhat controversially, putting Real up 2-0.
Suarez was not about to be outdone, scoring his second of the game with a header off a phenomenal cross from Dani Alves, who managed to put it on a platter after catching up to the ball before it crossed the end line.
Suarez capped his hat trick–and the title–in the 85th minute, netting his 40th goal of the season off an unselfish pass from Neymar. It was Suarez's 14th goal in his last five games, form that Uruguay will surely hope he carries to Copa America Centenario. He wins the Pichichi–La Liga's golden boot–marking the first time since 2009 that neither Lionel Messi nor Ronaldo leads the league in scoring.
Barcelona can win one more trophy this season, as it plays Sevilla in the Copa del Rey final next Sunday.
