Real Madrid have won their 35th La Liga title with a 4-0 victory over Espanyol. Carlo Ancelotti’s men cruised to an easy victory over a rival who appeared to be an uninvited guest at the celebrations on Saturday night, thanks to two first-half goals from Rodrygo and additional strikes from Marco Asensio and Karim Benzema.

Ancelotti rested nine of the 11 Real Madrid players who faced Manchester City in the Champions League last Tuesday, with only Luka Modric and Thibaut Courtois remaining in the lineup for the European return leg next week.

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Rodrygo scored his first goal in the 33rd minute after receiving a cross from left back Marcelo and beating two defenders before scoring with a low shot across Espanyol keeper Diego Lopez, according to Xinhua. Mariano Diaz scored the second goal after forcing the Espanyol defence to make a mistake while attempting to play the ball out from the back. Rodrygo received the ball and scored with a tight shot against the post.

In the 55th minute, Marco Asensio slipped through to finish off an Eduardo Camavinga counter-attack. Camavinga, Modric, and Mariano were replaced on 60 minutes by Karim Benzema, Toni Kroos, and Isco, who thought he had added a fourth with 20 minutes left to play, but it was ruled out for offside.

Benzema, on the other hand, scored his fourth goal with a typical first-time finish after a move by Vinicius Jr and Isco.

Ancelotti has now led clubs to league titles in Spain (Real Madrid), Italy (AC Milan), England (Chelsea), France (Paris Saint-Germain), and Germany (Bayern Munich).

Sevilla’s chances of finishing second were dashed when they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by struggling Cadiz. Sevilla took the lead in the first half thanks to Youssef En-header, Neysri’s his fourth league goal of the season, but a tenacious Cadiz equalised in the second half thanks to Lucas Perez’s excellent free kick.

Atletico Madrid’s fourth-place finish appears to be in jeopardy after they were defeated 2-0 away to Athletic Club Bilbao, who kept their hopes of playing in Europe next season alive with an impressive win.

Athletic dominated the first 25 minutes, with Inaki Williams’ eighth-minute cross deflected into his own net by Atletico defender Mario Hermoso. Atletico started the second half strongly, but after Antoine Griezmann hit the crossbar with a free kick, Williams scored Athletic’s second penalty after Iker Muniain was fouled.

Despite Angel Correa’s deflected shot rebounding off the post in injury time, Atletico never looked like they would recover from the second goal. Athletic are now one point behind seventh-placed Villarreal, who suffered a 2-1 defeat away to Alaves after suffering a hangover from their Champions League semi-final against Liverpool.

Alaves took a two-goal lead in the first half thanks to goals from Victor Laguardia and Gonzalo Escalante, and the Vitoria side held on to move above Levante after Villarreal’s Samuel Chukwueze equalised two minutes later.

Hugo Duro’s first-half goal for Valencia was cancelled out by Oscar Duarte’s 81st-minute equaliser for Levante in the city derby. After Valencia defender Jose Luis Gaya was sent off for a direct red card after 31 minutes, Levante dropped back to the bottom of the table.

Levante had 24 shots on goal but only got one from Duarte on 81 minutes. Duro converted Valencia’s lone shot on goal in the 27th minute.

(Inputs from IANS)