Barcelona wins Spanish league title

By Xiang Bin

China.org.cn, May 12, 2011

A title that had appeared inevitable for weeks finally was clinched with two games to spare when Barcelona tied 1-1 at Levante on Wednesday night to win Spain's La Liga for the third straight season.

Seydou Keita headed in Xavi Hernandez's pass to put Barcelona ahead in the 28th minute. The champions-in-waiting failed to hold on to the lead, however, after a nightmarish piece of defending from Gerard Pique and Victor Valdes resulted in Levante striker Felipe Caicedo tapping the ball into an empty net.

Barcelona won the league for the 21st time in its 111-year history and fifth time in seven seasons. The Blaugrana took a six-point lead and holds the tiebreaker over Real Madrid, which is assured of its third straight second-place finish.

With one eye on the Champions League final against Manchester United, Barcelona started Keita and Ibrahim Afellay over regulars Iniesta and Pedro Rodriguez and rested Puyol, starting Javier Mascherano in central defense.

Messi made a spectacular effort to wiggle through four Levante defenders in the 58th, but his stab was denied by the post. Messi shimmied past a trio of defenders in the 72nd and was just side.

Barcelona spent the last 10 minutes passing the ball back as visiting fans cheered "Champions! Champions!" in the stands.