Villarreal shock Barcelona to dampen title celebrations

Madrid, May 20: Villarreal dampened Barcelona's title celebrations by handing the Catalan club its first defeat of 2025 in the Spanish league on Sunday.

Barcelona, which clinched its 28th league title midweek, presented the trophy to its fans in the team's final home match of the season at Montjuic stadium. Players were announced one by one after the game, which Villarreal won 3-2, before lifting the trophy.

Barcelona's Spanish Super Cup and Copa del Rey trophies also were displayed at Montjuic, with players dancing around the silverware during the celebrations. "We can be proud of this team for winning these titles and for how it did it," Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen said. "We had a great season in all levels."

Before the match, Villarreal players did a guard of honor for the new league champions, with its players lining up to congratulate Barcelona as the team entered the field.

Real Madrid won 2-0 at nine-man Sevilla, with Kylian Mbappé extending his league-leading tally to 29 goals with one round to go. Jude Bellingham also scored. Madrid reached 81 points, four fewer than Barcelona.

Villarreal's victory secured its return to the Champions League for the first time since reaching the semifinals in 2022.

It will join Barcelona, Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao in Europe's top club competition next season. Spain will have five clubs in the Champions League next season.

Real Betis clinched one of the Europa League spots. Celta Vigo, Rayo Vallecano and Osasuna will be chasing the final Europa League place and the Conference League spot.

Barcelona, Madrid, Atletico and Athletic will play in next year's lucrative Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia. The top two teams in the league and the Copa del Rey finalists are awarded places in the Spanish Super Cup. Since this season's final was between Barcelona and Madrid, two other spots were made available through the league.

Third-placed Atletico guaranteed its spot with a 4-1 win over Betis with Julián Álvarez scoring twice, including with a superb curling free kick in the first half. Fourth-placed Athletic Bilbao won 1-0 at Valencia with a goal by Álex Berenguer. (AP)