2013-14 saw the closest finish ever in the Spanish La Liga where Atletico Madrid surpassed all expectations to beat Barcelona and Real Madrid to the league title.

The La Liga 2015 – Final Standings

This season though, the title was wrapped with a game in hand, and Real Madrid, despite their million dollar signings were unable to outplay Barcelona, who’s attacking strike force could be the best ever in footballing history. Barcelona may have finished only two points ahead of Real Madrid in the final standings, but they had the title in their grasp ever since the Classico win in March. Not only did the clinical win put Barca four points ahead in the title race, it also showed that they were the best club in Spain (and possibly, the world) at the moment. There were no slip-ups thereafter and Real’s draw against Valencia guaranteed Barcelona on the penultimate weekend guaranteed Barca the title with a game to spare.

Atletico Madrid had to let go off three of their stars, Courtois, Felipe Luis and Diego Costa (all to Chelsea), but did well to finish third and confirm qualification to the Champions League. Their final day draw against Granada ensured they finished one point above Valencia. Antoine Griezmann was probably the signing of the season and he finished only behind Ronaldo and Messi in the goal scoring charts while Mandzukic could only manage 12 in the league.

Sevilla’s victory wasn’t sufficient to put them above Valencia, but they have the Europa League final this Wednesday wherein a victory would guarantee them a Champions League spot despite finishing fifth in the table. Villareal, meanwhile, earned themselves a Europa League spot with a sixth place finish while Athletic Bilbao was unlucky to finish seventh.

Celta Vigo and Rayo Vallecano ended the season with high possession and successful pass percentages while even the appointment of David Moyes couldn’t help Real Sociedad reach the heights of the 2013-14 season.

In the relegation battle, Deportivo La Coruna just about clinched survival by coming back from two goals down to get a point against Barcelona while Granada’s point against Atletico Madrid meant that Eibar would go down despite a 3-0 win against bottom placed Cordoba. Almeria’s 2-3 loss against Valencia also meant second division for the former next season.

As has been the case over the last half a decade, the goal scoring charts were only a matter of who scored the highest amongst Ronaldo and Messi. Ronaldo had a dream start to the season and ended the campaign with an astounding 48 goals, including 8 hat-tricks, while Messi helped himself to 43 league goals with Griezmann, Neymar and Carlos Bacca being the other top scorers.

Tags: Athletic Bilbao, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Celta Vigo, Cristiano Ronaldo, Football, James Rodriguez, La Liga, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Nolito, Rayo Vallecano, Real Madrid, Sevilla, Spanish La Liga, Valencia, Villareal