Messi hands Barca 23rd Liga title

Barcelona claimed their fifth La Liga title in seven years and their 23rd overall as Lionel Messi scored the winner in a 1-0 victory at Atletico Madrid.
Exactly a year to the day since Atletico won the league in a title decider at Barca's Camp Nou, the Catalans yesterday exacted some measure of revenge to seal the first of a potential treble of trophies this season.
Luis Enrique's men face Athletic Bilbao in the final of the Copa del Rey on home soil at the Camp Nou on May 30 and Juventus in the Champions League final a week later in Berlin.

"We started 10 months ago with many changes at the club and coming off a season having not won anything," said the Barca coach.
"We knew it would be a season of transition and we tried to do our best. We have two titles still to play for, but we already have the one that rewards consistency."
Cristiano Ronaldo struck his 30th Real Madrid hat-trick as Los Blancos bounced back from their Champions League elimination at the hands of Juventus to beat Espanyol 4-1, but it mattered little as they still trail Barca by four points with just one game to play.

Meanwhile, defeat means Atletico need just a point on the final day to secure their place in the group stages of the Champions League next season by finishing third as Valencia could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to Celta Vigo.

With temperatures at kick-off above 30 degrees celsius, a somewhat subdued start wasn't surprising, but it was the hosts who had the better openings early on.
Claudio Bravo made a stunning save to palm Jose Maria Gimenez's header from a corner and the Chilean produced another fine stop moments later from Antoine Griezmann, although the Frenchman had already been flagged offside.

Barca grew into the game as the half wore on with Messi testing Jan Oblak with a drive from the edge of the area and then a headed effort that was easily held by the Slovenian.