The finest player on the planet was at his imperious best on Sunday evening as a Lionel Messi-inspired Barcelona romped to the La Liga title courtesy of a 4-0 over Real Valladolid. The result also relegated the visitors.

The Argentine sensation scored twice in the second half to add to first-half strikes from Pedro and a Luis Prieto own goal.



Meanwhile, in the Balearics, Real Madrid were held to 1-1 draw making Barca's result immaterial in the race for the title. Rafael van der Vaart was the Galactico goalscorer.

Barcelona finished the campaign with a record Spanish league tally of 99 points from 38 games while Messi's goals took his total for the season to 34, equaling the club record set by Brazil's Ronaldo in 1996-97.

On Saturday, Sevilla claimed a place in next season's Champions League with a 3-2 win at Almeria, while Mallorca and Getafe won berths in the Europa League after beating Espanyol 2-0 and Atletico Madrid 3-0 respectively.