Barça celebrate title

Valencia's away date with Real Mallorca kicked off an hour before Barcelona started against Celta. As news filtered through that Valencia was losing, the final stages of the first half in Vigo saw ears glued to radios and, as the half-time whistle sounded, flocks of reporters converged upon the coach Frank Rijkaard and his players.

Indeed, as they reached the dressing room, the news that the match in Mallorca had finished sparked wild celebrations among the Barcelona fans in the stadium, collected in their thousands in the Catalan capital, and indeed among the players. The team talk must have been something to hear.

The Blaugranas emerged to play with smiles and after a few minutes Samuel Eto'o scored the winning goal, well taken among a gang of Celta defenders. Whether the masses celebrating along the Rambla were aware of the goal is debatable; but then it was only the icing on the cake of a season that has again taken the breath of all who witnessed it. It is the football played on its way to the championship that has drawn people to Barça, in the same way that Brazil are many football fans' second team for the World Cup.

Ronaldinho, substituted soon after the goal, resembled the goofy kid in the Joga Bonito advert that played in such a carefree manner. He couldn't stop slapping hands with his team-mates and management team. “I signed for Barça for its history and, after some time without winning anything, now the celebration will not stop”.

The euphoria was shared by the Barça president Joan Laporta. “This team unites all the possible elements to continue making history”, he said last night. Rijkaard added, “This title could be described as the realisation of a dream”.

The Spanish football league (L.F.P.) has effectively declared war upon F.I.F.A. by scheduling the last round of Liga matches for May 20th.

The world governing body told the L.F.P. that only the cancelled Seville-Barcelona clash could take place on that date, a week after the season was originally due to end, and that international players destined for the summer World Cup were ineligible to play. That attitude caused problems as Seville is in a U.E.F.A. Cup position but not guaranteed of it: hence it would know exactly what it has to do to secure it going into the final match.

The L.F.P., in a meeting between club representatives, decided to put the match in Seville into a slot previously occupied by a full league programme, the 13th and 14th May, and move the last round of games to the 20th. It said that, in order to, “Safeguard the purity of the competition”, international players will be eligible to play.

Alavés gave itself a lifeline with only two games remaining with a 2-0 victory over fellow strugglers Real Betis on Wednesday night.

Goals from John Aloisi and Nené proved sufficient and dragged the Andalucian team back into the relegation dogfight. Cádiz look doomed, four points from Racing Santander and safety, although Racing has a game in hand over all its rivals.

Espanyol, Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao will be looking over their shoulders also. Mallorca's win over Valencia moved it ahead of everyone, although with only four points separating it from third-bottom Alavés, nothing is certain just yet.