La Liga goes down to the wire after leaders held

Atletico Madrid and Barcelona will play a La Liga title decider at the Nou Camp stadium next weekend after leaders Atletico drew 1-1 at home to Malaga and second-placed Barca were held to a 0-0 stalemate at Elche on Sunday.

On a day of nerve-jangling tension, when Atletico came desperately close to a late goal that would have clinched the championship, Real Madrid dropped out of the title race when they suffered a surprise 2-0 loss at Celta Vigo that left them five points behind their city rivals with one game remaining.

Atletico are top on 89 points from 37 matches, with Barca on 86 and Real, who were missing key players through injury at Celta including top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo, on 84.

If Barca beat Atletico next Sunday they will be champions as they would have a better head-to-head record after the title rivals drew 0-0 at the Calderon in Madrid in January.

A draw would be enough for Atletico to secure their first domestic league title since 1996, when current coach Diego Simeone was in the team, and become the first team other than Spain's wealthy big two to win La Liga since Valencia in 2004.

Samuel Sanchez gave Malaga a shock lead 25 minutes from time at Atletico's packed Calderon stadium, where the fans have been enjoying the club's best season in years.

Jose Sosa levelled for the home side, who play Real in the Champions League final on May 24, in the 74th minute and Adrian came close to a winner in stoppage time but was denied by a brilliant save from Malaga goalkeeper Willy Caballero.

At Elche's Martinez Valero arena in Alicante, Barca created plenty of chances but as so often this season they failed to take them.

Their bid for a fifth La Liga title in six seasons remains alive, however, despite consecutive draws as Atletico again failed to take advantage of Barca's stumble.

Real's faint hopes of pipping Atletico and Barca to the title were extinguished when a Charles double either side of halftime condemned them to a defeat that ended their chances of a Champions League, La Liga and King's Cup treble.

Juventus celebrate third successive title with win over Atalanta

The Juventus fans were in a mood to party and their team lived up to expectations as they celebrated winning a third successive Serie A title with a 1-0 victory over Atalanta on Monday.

A second-half Simone Padoin strike enabled the champions to enjoy the moment in front of their supporters by maintaining their 100 per cent home record.

Antonio Conte's side, handed their 30th championship thanks to AS Roma's 4-1 defeat at relegation-threatened Catania on Sunday, are on 96 points, 11 ahead of Roma and only a point away from equalling the all-time record set by Inter Milan in 2007.

Padion's powerful 72nd-minute strike which careered in off the post following a nifty flick from Paul Pogba secured Juve's 18th straight home league win and they only have to beat Cagliari to finish the season unbeaten at the Juventus Stadium.

Coach Conte made eight changes to the side which failed to overturn a 2-1 deficit in their Europa League semi-final with Benfica and they were rarely troubled by an Atalanta team who stayed in 11th on 47 points and now have no chance of European football.

Stefan Colantuono's side are eight points behind sixth-placed Torino with two games remaining after losing four of their last five matches, falling away dramatically after winning six in a row in March.

They are are also six behind Lazio and Hellas Verona, who are still in the Europa league hunt after playing out an entertaining 3-3 draw featuring a red card for each side as Verona fought back from 2-1 to lead 3-2 through goals from Iturbe and Romulo.

However, Lazio captain Stefano Mauri scored a soft-looking stoppage-time penalty given for a foul on Miroslav Klose by Michelangelo Albertazzi, who was sent off, to snatch his side a dramatic and controversial late point.
 

Juventus win third successive title after Roma lose

 Juventus won a third consecutive Serie A title without playing on Sunday when AS Roma, the only team who could catch them, capitulated to a 4-1 defeat at lowly Catania.

Roma, who had bravely kept their challenge going by winning their last nine games, inexplicably produced one of their worst performances of the season against the Sicilian strugglers.

Mariano Izco stunned Roma by scoring twice in a six-minute spell in the first half and, although Francesco Totti pulled one back, it was only a lull in the storm.

Gonzalo Bergessio extended Catania's lead in the 56th minute and Pablo Barrientos fired a fourth to leave Roma's title hopes in tatters.

The defeat left Roma eight points behind Juventus, who host Atalanta on Monday (1900 GMT) with only two games left to play.

Juventus have won a record 30 Serie A titles, including three in successive seasons since Antonio Conte took over as coach in 2011.

"The Scudetto is always special, especially a third in a row as that had never happened to us before," Conte told reporters earlier on Sunday. "Even legendary coaches were unable to get three consecutive titles."