Joy for Malaga, tears as Villarreal go down

Qatar-owned Malaga secured fourth place in La Liga and a first shot at the Champions League with a 1-0 home win over Sporting Gijon, who joined Villarreal in being relegated, in a dramatic finale to the season on Sunday. The last eight matches had three places in Europe and two relegation slots at stake as the games all kicked off at the same time with fans glued to their radios in grounds around Spain. Salomon Rondon headed Malaga in front from a corner just after halftime, putting the big-spending club on 58 points ahead of Atletico Madrid and Levante who finished fifth and sixth to secure entry to the Europa League. “The dressing room are delighted. We weren’t content to settle for a Europa League place,” Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini, who took over midway through last season, told a news conference. “Malaga have beaten many institutions that are much stronger than we are. We are going to start to experience many new things, and need to be prepared in many different areas. This is a five-year project.” Atletico beat Villarreal 1-0 with an 88th-minute header from Radamel Falcao, the hero of their midweek Europa League final win over Athletic Bilbao, and condemned the team that finished fourth last season to relegation. Villarreal were hanging by a thread in 17th when news filtered through that Rayo Vallecano had grabbed a 90th-minute winner through Raul Tamudo, for a 1-0 victory over Granada. Rayo pushed Villarreal, the Champions League semi-finalists in 2006, down into the second division and a pitch invasion at their tiny stadium saw players being stripped of their kit.  “It’s very tough,” Villarreal defender Angel told Spanish television as he left the pitch at the Madrigal.  “Football is like this. Sometimes strange things happen. We have to try and pick ourselves up. This is football.” Real Zaragoza escaped from the bottom three with a 2-0 victory at Getafe who finished with eight men on the pitch. Levante secured their highest league finish in their 102 years with a 3-0 rout of Europa League finalists Bilbao, and qualified for European competition for the first time. Abdelkader Ghezzal scored twice and Francisco Farinos grabbed a late penalty to cap a remarkable campaign for the small club from Valencia, who had been expected to be battling to avoid relegation. Champions Real Madrid signed off with a 4-1 hammering of Real Mallorca at the Bernabeu to set a new La Liga record of 100 points for a season, beating the previous best of 99 achieved by Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona in 2010. Cristiano Ronaldo, headed his 46th league goal of the campaign, Karim Benzema and a double from Mesut Ozil lifted Real to a league scoring record 121 goals. Real ended nine points ahead of deposed champions Barcelona, who signed off with a 2-2 draw at Real Betis on Saturday. Valencia were 30 points back in third in the last automatic qualification Champions League slot despite losing 1-0 at Real Sociedad on Saturday. Dutch striker Van Nistelrooy retires  from professional football London: Malaga’s Dutch striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy retired from professional football yesterday, ending a stellar career that included stints with Manchester United and Real Madrid. “Yesterday I played my last match as a professional,” Van Nistelrooy, 35, told a news conference, a day after Malaga won a place in next season’s Champion’s League by winning their last league game against Sporting Gijon. “There could be no better way to say goodbye than this, in a euphoric moment for the club,” Van Nistelrooy said. “I wanted to play in the Champions, but the moment has come to stop. I have reached my physical limit and I cannot play at the top level,” said the Dutchman, who earned the nickname “Van Gol” in Madrid. “I feel happy to have taken this decision. I thank Malaga for an unforgettable year.” During his two-decade career, Van Nistelrooy won leagues and was crowned top scorer in three countries—England, Spain and The Netherlands, where he played for PSV Eindhoven and Heerenveen. With 60 goals in the Champions League, he remains that competition’s second-highest scorer, behind his former Real Madrid teammate Raul Gonzalez of Spain who has scored 71. He played for five seasons with Manchester United, winning the English league in 2003 and the cup in 2004, the league cup in 2006 and the Community Shield in 2003. During four seasons with Real Madrid he played a part in two Liga titles, in 2007 and 2008, and a Spanish Super Cup in 2008. In the Netherlands, he won the league twice as a striker for PSV—but never won a title with the Dutch national team despite his 70 caps. “I am proud to have won team and individual titles, but my greatest satisfaction was the work from season to season,” Van Nistelrooy said yesterday. After a two-season stint with Hamburg, he moved to Malaga last year, where he had a low-key season. “I had challenges this year, but I realised that I could not meet them. Around February to March the moment came when I knew for sure that I was going to retire,” he said. But the finale to the Spanish league on Sunday was the favourite moment of his career. “The last is always the best. This year has been a total success,” he said. “This qualification for the Champions feels like a victory.”