The La Liga season ended with something of a tearjerker on Saturday, as Deportivo La Coruna, Champions of Spain just over a decade ago, fell into the second tier – perhaps never to return.
With finances tight at the Riazor, many fans knew that relegation could spell bad news for the club, with debts already totalling over £100 million and with none of the “parachute payment” luxuries that Premier League clubs enjoy.
Despite this, the atmosphere in La Coruna ahead of their must win match with Valencia was electric, with fans urging their team on before a ball had even been kicked. However, it didn’t take long for such hope to be deflated as Aritz Aduriz gave Los Che the lead with just four minutes on the clock.
Worse still, news quickly filtered through that the team directly below them going into the game, Real Zaragoza, had also taken an early lead over Levante with talismanic captain Gabi opening the scoring.
The Second half saw Depor pour forward in search of an equaliser that would have kept them up. All they found instead was an in form Cesar Sanchez in the Valencia goal, who repelled chance after chance for the visitors. When news of a second Gabi goal filtered through, the crowd grew more ferocious as the team poured more and more men forward.
Suddenly there was hope too, as Levante pulled a goal back against Zaragoza with ten minutes to go through Christian Stuani. Yet for all the help that others may have given to Los Turcos, the home side simply couldn’t find the goal.
Strikers Lassad and Riki went close but not close enough in an all too familiar scenario before Valencia broke away, deep into stoppage time to score through Roberto Soldado, whose muted celebrations reflected the sense of loss to La Liga’s rich history that Depor’s demotion brings.
Back at the turn of the millennium, the Riazor hosted the likes of AC Milan, Manchester United and Juventus to name a few. Next season, it will see the likes of Villarreal B, Girona and Xerez. The only silver lining being the prospect of another Galician derby with old rivals Celta Vigo, though it is of course scant consolation.
Speaking after the game, one of the few remnants of that era, Juan Carlos Valeron, was distraught explaining "The ball just didn't go in even though we've given everything. We're really sorry” before the 34 year old added “Next season we will right the wrongs we have done."
What made it all so much worse was that a single goal could have seen them safe, due to Real Mallorca falling to a frantic 4-3 defeat to Atletico Madrid.
It’s been another wasted season for Atleti, who began the campaign with high hopes yet ended it in the all too familiar if not comfortable Europa league positions. Worse still, potential summer departee Sergio Agüero gave the club a glimpse of what could have been with a stirring hat trick for the visitors.
Two goals from Agüero with another from Juanfran in between gave Atleti a healthy half time lead in Mallorca, before goals from Jonathan De Guzman and Pierre Webó reduced the deficit. Agüero promptly completed his hat trick before Webó grabbed a second in stoppage time which mattered little given Depor’s plight.
Despite the lack of progress though, goalkeeper David De Gea remained positive. "There were times during the season when we were six to eight points off the Europa League places. We've managed to get into this competition and we need to appreciate that,” he asserted.
There were some positive results for the other teams involved in the relegation fight as Getafe drew 1-1 with Real Sociedad and both teams survived. The visitors took an early lead through Cata Díaz, but Sociedad fans finally celebrated safety with an equaliser from Francisco Sutil to leave the game at a welcome deadlock.
Elsewhere, there was good news for under pressure Osasuna who claimed yet another impressive home win thanks to a solitary goal from Álvaro Cejudo just before half time.
Meanwhile, there were more than a few sides breathing a sigh of relief that their La Liga status had been secured prior to this round of games.
Málaga may have faced an under strength Barcelona side, yet they came away with a stern reminder of the Catalans strength and depth, as the Dubai owned club with dreams of competing for La Liga were well beaten.
A Sebastien Fernández goal on the half hour mark gave them some hope of a scalp, but Barca were level before half time with Bojan Krkíc scoring from the spot. The Catalans controlled much of the second half and added two goals in the final fifteen minutes through Ibrahim Afellay and Marc Bartra to seal the win.
Racing Santander also faced off against Europa League qualifiers Athletic Bilbao with little to play for, and were effectively beaten by two goals in a minute from David López and Fernando Llorente in the first half. The second half got worse before it got better for Santander as first Francis Perez was sent off with 17 minutes to go before Kennedy Bakircioglu scored to slightly improve the score line.
Sporting Gijon also picked up a point from a 0-0 draw with already relegated Hercules, who salvaged some pride with their final day display. However, the same could not be said for relegated Almeria, who crumbled to an 8-1 defeat against hosts Real Madrid.
The reverse fixture had seen Almeria pick up a point, but come this Saturday there was only one point to prove for Real Madrid, who took less than five minutes to prove it with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring his 39th league goal to break the scoring record previously held by Hugo Sanchez and Telmo Zarra.
The Portuguese star even added a second late on to make it 40 for the season, whilst Emanuel Adebayor grabbed a hat trick and Karim Benzema a brace. There was even time for young substitute Joselu Sanmartín to score with Almeria only able to muster a single strike through Kalu Uche in the first half.
Yet in truth, it was a case of too little too late for Madrid, with the Los Blancos missing out on La Liga and Champions League glory once again.
Another side missing out on Champions League football altogether next season are Sevilla. Although the Andalusians were able to end the season on a high though thanks to a 3-2 win over Espanyol. Two Alvaro Negredo goals coupled with a Fredi Kanouté strike meant the home side was always in control, despite Espanyol pulling goals back from Osvaldo and Joan Verdú.
As ever, this season La Liga has enjoyed its fair share of high scoring games. Conversely and unfortunately for Deportivo, these have rarely featured the La Coruna side. With just 31 goals to their name, they have been less prolific as a team than individual players such as Messi and Ronaldo, the sad truth is that maybe Spain’s top flight is better off without them.