Real rally to 30th crown

Real Madrid captured a record 30th Spanish league title with a come-from-behind 3-1 win over Real Mallorca. They finished equal...

Real Madrid captured a record 30th Spanish league title with a come-from-behind 3-1 win over Real Mallorca. They finished equal on 76 points with bitter rivals Barcelona, who won 5-1 at bottom club Gimnastic Tarragona, but finished ahead of the Catalan club thanks to their better head-to-head record.

The victory also sent David Beckham away to Los Angeles with a league championship medal although the former England skipper was substituted before the end of the game.

Real went unbeaten over their last 12 games of the season and, after lying third in mid-March, they clawed back a five-point advantage from both Barcelona and Sevilla.

They only needed to beat Mallorca to claim La Liga but the visitors8217; Fernando Varela silenced the 76,000 Real fans in the Santiago Bernabeu when he found the net after 17 minutes.

Madrid pressed hard and both Raul and Robinho went close, but Real suffered another blow when Ruud van Nistelrooy, scorer of 26 goals this season, had to be taken off with a hamstring injury after 30 minutes. Van Nistelrooy8217;s departure meant he will only get a share of the European Golden Boot award with Roma8217;s Francesco Totti.

Beckham8217;s four-year career at the Spanish club ended 65 minutes into his last game when he limped off. He sat glumly in the dugout, but his initial disappointment turned to joy as his replacement Jose Antonio Reyes found the net twice.

After only being on the field for three minutes, Reyes side-footed the ball past Mallorca goalkeeper Miguel Angel Moya after Gonzalo Higuain had pulled the ball back from the dead ball line.

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Nine minutes from time, Real finally got their noses in front when the ball glanced off an unlucky Angelos Bassinas after Moya had pushed a Mahamadou Diarra header onto his team mate.

Reyes then crowned Madrid8217;s night to remember with a tremendous left foot shot two minutes later.

Sevilla started the night in third place, two points in arrears of the leading two, but went down 1-0 at home to Villarreal.

The match and after

I made several misjudgements, but my biggest mistake was not to count on Beckham after he announced he was leaving. Not keeping him in the side was my biggest error

8212; Real coach Fabio Capello

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You have to enjoy a moment like this, but I think I8217;ll be crying later when I speak to my family. I hope the Bernabeu will always be like this

8212; Roberto Carlos

It has been an incredible experience but all I8217;ll remember now are the great things and the good things because winning this puts to bed everything else. I couldn8217;t have dreamt it any better

8212; David Beckham

It8217;s here and it8217;s very deserved. The people who deserve it most are those who believed in us through the bad times8230;. it8217;s a team that8217;s united and together.

8212; Captain Raul Gonzalez