Atletico Madrid crowned LaLiga champions as Suarez scores winner at Valladolid

Atletico Madrid were crowned champions of Spain on Saturday as they came back from a goal down to secure a hard-fought 2-1 win away at Valladolid, who were relegated as a result of the loss.

Valladolid took the lead in the first-half through an Oscar Plano goal in the 18th minute. But much to Atletico’s joy, city rivals Real Madrid too conceded a goal at the same moment in their last home match against Villareal.

Real Madrid were the only team to have a chance at winning the league, apart from Atletico, had they won against Villareal and had Atletico lost or drawn their encounter against Valladolid.

With both the Madrid teams losing at the half-way mark, Diego Simeone’s Atletico drew level in the 57th minute with a goal from Angel Correa. The Argentine showing some great footwork, just outside the Vallodolid box, to toe-poke the equalizer past the keeper.

It wasn’t enough to put the title on ice as Atletico needed another goal to be sure of becoming champions and it came from their talisman, Luis Suarez, whom they bought from FC Barcelona at the start of the season.

A back pass went horribly wrong for Valladolid as it landed on the feet of Suarez, who displayed great poaching skills yet again to seal the tie for Atletico.

The importance of that goal came through at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, where Real Madrid drew level in the 87th minute with a strike from Karim Benzema and the victory for Zinedine Zidane’s team was sealed in injury-time by Luka Modric.

The goals though were not enough as Atletico held on to their 2-1 victory to finish the season with 86 points, two more than Real Madrid.

FC Barcelona’s disappointing season ended with a 1-0 win over Eibar, with a goal from Antoine Griezmann. Lionel Messi ended the season as the highest goal-scorer yet again with 30 goals to his name.