The last 17 minutes of eal Madrid where a complete exhibition as they dismantled Athletic 5-1 in their season finale at the Santiago Bernabéu.  Cristiano Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuaín, Sergio Ramos, Karim Benzema, and Marcelo scored the five Merengue goals and kept pace with Barcelona with only one match left in the season. 


Madrid were not able to budge an inspired Athletic for 73 minutes- time during which Barca were crowning themselves champs.  For Los Blancos that result did not hold up and are now able to fight another day.   For well over an hour they played a man up as Amorebieta was sent off for handling a ball inside the area.  Paco Yeste would equalize and nerves ran ragged  at the Bernabéu.  


"We knew the score in Sevilla when the referee blew the final whistle,"said Iker Casillas.  "It's normal to feel down after something like that.  But when you think about it both teams deserve to win with the type of campaign they've had."  


In the end Madrid, cruised and continued to build on their record of most wins in a season. 


Meanwhile Barcelona started out like a house on fire at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuan, but had to suffer to get the three points against Sevilla to maintain the top spot in La Liga.  


Lionel Messi locked up the Pichichi and the European Golden Boot with his fifth minute goal while  Bojan Krkic and Pedro added the two other goals for the Blaugrana.


Things seemed to be on cruise control, until Barca went on their usual siesta in the 69th minute and Sevilla made a game of it courtesy of Frédéric Kanouté and Luis Fabiano.  Sevilla was able to threaten but never really were able to cash in on opportunities given by the suspect Barca defense. 


For Barca they are just one step away from the league title as they will host Valladolid next weekend.  It will not be easy as they will have to do so without Xavi as he will be serving a one-match ban for getting his fifth yellow card.  


This is one of the first leagues in recent memory where no team has been relegated and the bottom six teams are still mathematically alive in race to avoid the drop.   Xerez had a big win against Zaragoza.  Tenerife drew at the death against Almería while Valladolid came up big against a fading Racing Santander. 


So week 38 will have almost every single match having some type of meaning whether it's for the title, European spots, and relegation.  All matches will be played on Sunday simultaneously.  

Saturday 


Deportivo 1-0 MallorcaDEP: Riki (68')

Sporting 1-1 Atletico
SPO: de las Cuevas (57')
ATM: Ibra (71')


Espanyol 2-1 Osasuna
ESP: Forlín (50'), Osvaldo (52')
OSA: Vadocz (7')

Tenerife 2-2 Almería
TEN: Bertrán (15'), Nino (90'+3')
ALM: Piatti (18'), Crusat (80')

Getafe 2-1 MálagaGET: Soldado (26'), Pedro León (56')
MAL: Fernando (90'+1')

Valladolid 2-1 Racing
VLL: Baraja (57'),  Nauzet (77'pk)
RAC: Fernández (28')

Sevilla 2-3 Barcelona 
SEV; Kanouté (69'), Luis Fabiano(71')
BAR: Messi (5'), Bojan (28'), Pedro (62')

Real Madrid 5-1 Athletic
RMA: Cristiano Ronaldo (22' pk), Higuaín (73'), Sergio Ramos (80'),  Benzema (81'), Marcelo (89')
ATB: Yeste (41')

Xerez 3-2 Zaragoza
XER: Francis (22'), Miguel Angel (69'), Calvo (73') 
ZAR:  Herrera (43'),  Gabi (76')

Villarreal 2-0 Valencia
VIL: Rossi (10'), Llorente (18')




Standings


Positions
2010-11 Champions League:  x-Barcelona, x-Real Madrid
2010-11 Champions League qualifiers: x-Valencia, yz-Sevilla,
2010-11 Europa League:  y-Mallorca, Getafe, Villarreal, y-Atlético
Relegation: Tenerife, Valladolid, Xerez
Promotion: Real Sociedad, Levante, Cartagena


x- clinched Champions League berth
y- clinched Europa League berth
z- Copa del Rey finalist


Pichichi Race
Lionel Messi BAR             32
Gonzalo Higuaín RMA      27
Cristiano Ronaldo RMA    26
David Villa VAL                21
Diego Forlán ATM            18
Zlatan Ibrahimovic BAR    16