La Liga Daily Report - 2026-05-25

Barcelona ended the 2025-26 La Liga season as champions, with Hansi Flick's side recovering from a slow start to finish top of the table ahead of Real Madrid. The season closed on Saturday night with Oviedo, Mallorca and Girona relegated to the second tier, underlining how decisively the title race and survival battle were settled.

The Catalans' turnaround was highlighted by the strong collective impact of Flick's team, while Real Madrid settled for second and Atletico Madrid's final-day collapse left them outside the top three. Barcelona's title and the relegation of three clubs make this a defining end to the campaign, with the balance of power in Spain once again centring on the champions' consistency over 38 rounds.

Atletico Madrid's season ended in humiliation at La Ceramica, where Villarreal crushed Diego Simeone's side 5-1 on the final day. Atletico needed only a draw to secure a podium finish, but instead finished outside La Liga's top three for the second time in three years.

Dani Parejo opened the scoring from a penalty before Ayoze Perez struck twice, with Georges Mikautadze and Pape Gueye also on target in Villarreal's rout. Koke called the campaign a 'disaster' and admitted the result left a bitter taste, a brutal finish that will sharpen the pressure on Simeone and the club heading into another summer of questions.

Real Madrid finished their season with a 4-2 victory over Athletic Club, and Kylian Mbappe scored Madrid's third goal to clinch the Pichichi Trophy as La Liga's top scorer for a second straight season. The French forward's strike took him to 25 league goals, a reminder of his individual dominance even in a campaign that fell short of the club's highest expectations.

Alvaro Arbeloa, who has confirmed he will leave Real Madrid this summer, used his farewell message to describe Mbappe as 'an extraordinary player' with 'unparalleled talent'. The combination of a final-day win, a golden-boot style scoring milestone and Arbeloa's exit gives Madrid's post-season reset a sharply transitional feel.

Deportivo La Coruna secured promotion back to La Liga after an eight-year absence by winning 2-0 at Real Valladolid. Cameroonian forward Bil Nsongo scored both goals, and the result confirmed Deportivo one of the top two spots needed to return to Spain's top flight.

The promotion is a major milestone for a club that once won La Liga in 2000 and had spent years trying to rebuild its status. Reports also noted that the victory opened a six-point gap to third-placed Almeria, sealing the club's return before the final stretch and making Deportivo one of the stories of the season in Spain's second tier.

Luis de la Fuente's final 26-man Spain squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup includes Barcelona's Lamine Yamal despite his hamstring injury, but no Real Madrid players at all. Multiple reports highlighted the unprecedented nature of the omission, with Barcelona providing the largest club contingent in the group.

The selection also featured eight Barcelona players and 17 players from La Liga overall, reinforcing how heavily the national team leans on domestic talent. For Real Madrid, the absence of Dean Huijsen and every other club representative is a striking post-season blow, while Barcelona's influence continues to grow beyond the league title race.

Rayo Vallecano are preparing for their first European final, with the Madrid club set to face Crystal Palace in the Conference League final in Leipzig on Wednesday. Their run is remarkable for a side long defined by its working-class identity and modest resources, making this a landmark moment for the club and its supporters.

The Reuters and CNA reports both framed the achievement as one of the season's most romantic stories, recalling the banner that read 'Twenty-five years on, Europe will see us again' when Rayo returned to continental football. Reaching a final now turns that promise into reality and gives La Liga another club on a continental stage after the league's domestic drama has ended.

Moroccan winger Abdessamad Ezzalzouli, known as Abde Ezzalzouli, was named in Sofascore's La Liga Team of the Season for 2025-26. He was selected alongside elite names including Kylian Mbappé, Lamine Yamal, Jude Bellingham, Pedri, Federico Valverde, Dean Huijsen, Pau Cubarsí, Javi Guerra and Paulo Gazzaniga.

The recognition reflects a strong league campaign built on pace, dribbling and attacking output, and it adds another data-led marker of how Barcelona-linked and Spain-based talent dominated the season's statistical conversation. While not a trophy, the inclusion is a notable individual honour that helps define the league's best performers beyond the title race.