THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BARCELONA, Spain — Barcelona closed out its third straight league crown in style as a team made up mostly of reserves recovered for a 3-1 victory at Malaga on Saturday, while Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in Real Madrid’s 8-1 thrashing of Almeria to set a Spanish league scoring record.
Ronaldo poked home after just four minutes to break the record before striking again in the 77th with a hard shot past goalkeeper Esteban Suarez to set a new mark of 40 goals in a single season. Ronaldo had shared the mark of 38 with Athletic Bilbao’s Telmo Zarra and Madrid’s Hugo Sanchez, the league scoring leaders from the 1950-51 and 1989-90 seasons.
Emmanuel Adebayor scored a hat trick while Karim Benzema also added a brace as Madrid routed already-relegated Almeria to take its goal tally for the season to 102 from 38 games.
Madrid finished four points behind Barcelona, which recorded its league record 14th victory in 18 away games to finish its 21st title-winning season with 96 points.
Bojan Krkic’s penalty just before half time cancelled out Sebastian Fernandez’s 31st-minute opener for Malaga before Ibrahim Afellay and Marc Bartra scored late second-half goals eight minutes apart to secure victory.
Afellay made amends for spoiling an earlier solo chance by cutting into the middle to curl a long-range strike beyond goalkeeper Willy Caballero in the 76th.
Bartra scored his first goal with the senior team as the defender found himself alone inside the area to turn substitute Daniel Alves’ corner home with a well-guided header.
"We’re not here to grade ourselves, we’re here to play a game and that’s been impeccable," Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola said. "Last year we had 99 points and this year 96 — it’s absolutely ridiculous."
Lionel Messi was among seven regulars left out of the squad to rest up for next Saturday’s Champions League final against Manchester United at Wembley.
Ronaldo moved ahead of Messi with 53 goals overall on the season with his second strike at the Santiago Bernabeu after he opened by poking home Sergio Ramos’ header.
Jerzy Dudek was given a rare start as the Polish goalkeeper played his last game for Madrid, while Adebayor showed he will be missed if the Togo striker leaves the club when his loan-spell from Manchester City expires.
Jose Luis Samartin also scored his first goal for Madrid soon after coming on as a late substitute. Kalu Uche had pulled Almeria to within 2-1 before Madrid exploded in the second half.
Meanwhile, Sporting Gijon and Hercules drew 0-0.
Either Zaragoza, Osasuna, Real Sociedad, Getafe, Mallorca or Deportivo La Coruna will join Almeria and Hercules in the second division later Saturday as the six teams are divided by two points with one team set to be relegated after the final round of games.
The season’s closing games include: Real Sociedad vs. Getafe; Mallorca vs. Atletico Madrid; Osasuna vs. Villarreal; Levante vs. Zaragoza; Deportivo La Coruna vs. Valencia; Espanyol vs. Sevilla; and Racing Santander vs. Athletic Bilbao.