By ,
Published January 13, 2015
Real Madrid's slim hopes of retaining the La Liga title were dashed on Saturday as the club was held to a 1-1 draw at Espanyol.
The draw brings Madrid to 81 points with two matches to play. It leaves a gap of seven points between the Merengues and first-place Barcelona, clinching the championship for the Catalans.
Real Madrid was slow out of the gates at the Estadi Cornella-El Prat on Saturday as Christian Stuani struck in the 23rd minute to give Espanyol the edge heading into halftime.
The visitors answered in the second half through Gonzalo Higuain's 58th-minute strike, but they were unable to conjure the necessary go-ahead goal to aid their title defense.
Espanyol snaps a two-game slide with the result, climbing to 44 points on the season.
Athletic Bilbao 2, Mallorca 1
Bilbao, Spain - Athletic Bilbao piled more misery on Mallorca by handing the club a 2-1 loss at San Mames on Saturday.
Aritz Aduriz got Bilbao off the mark just eight minutes in, but Mallorca managed to remain in the match despite a red card dished out to Fontas for denying the home side a clear scoring opportunity. Aduriz failed to convert the ensuing attempt from the spot to leave the visitors with a chance of collecting something from the match, but Fernando Llorente struck in the 79th minute to give Bilbao an insurance goal.
It proved to be a pivotal strike as Giovani Dos Santos handed 10-man Mallorca a lifeline two minutes later, but Ximo Navarro was sent off in the first minute of stoppage time to leave the lowly club with no way back.
Mallorca remains at the foot of the La Liga table with 29 points while Bilbao, unbeaten in its last four league contests, improves to 41 points.
Valladolid 1, Deportivo 0
Valladolid, Spain - Valladolid put an end to Deportivo's seven-match unbeaten run on Saturday by picking up a 1-0 victory at the Jose Zorrilla.
After a scoreless first half, Javi Guerra produced the lone goal of the contest by scoring in the 48th minute of play. It proved to be enough to see his side claim the win, which lifts Valladolid to 43 points through 35 matches.
The result sees Deportivo remain in the final relegation spot as the clubs stays put on 32 points, two points shy of Real Zaragoza.
Osasuna 1, Getafe 0
Navarra, Spain - Osasuna pulled further away from the relegation zone on Saturday thanks to its 1-0 defeat of Getafe at El Sadar.
The home side was contained until the 75th minute when Javi Arribas bagged the only goal of the match, a strike good enough to see Osasuna improve to 36 points and move four points clear of the drop zone.
Getafe has lost four of its last five La Liga contests to remain 47 points for the season.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/real-madrid-concedes-title-with-espanyol-draw