San Sebastian, June 23: Real Sociedad dominated Atletico Madrid and scored three times but were powerless to stop Real Madrid winning the Spanish league championship. Socieded needed a win or a draw to take the title if Real Madrid lost at home to Athletic Bilbao on Sunday (June 22), but a 3-1 win for the league leaders saw celebrations at Santiago Bernabeu stadium while there were tears in San Sebastian. Sociedad could have been 3-0 up at halftime after Javi de Pedro wasted a chance when through on goal, Kahveci Nihat shot narrowly wide and then hit the post. The only hopeful cheers came when news filtered through to the Sociedad supporters that Athletic Bilbao had equalised in Madrid. In the second half, Sociedad went ahead when Darko Kovacevic smashed a shot from close range past German Burgos in the 51st minute. Javi de Pedro made it 2-0 just five minutes later with the defence nowhere to be seen and Nihat deservedly collected a third when he jinked past two defenders and lifted a shot over Burgos in the 74th minute. Nihat ended the season joint second highest scorer with Ronaldo of Real Madrid. Substitute Igor Gabilondo hit the outside of the post with a curling freekick near the end of the match but there was nothing Sociedad could do to prevent Real Madrid collecting their 29th title.


Spanish first division results: Barcelona 2 Celta Vigo 0 Real Madrid 3 Athletic Bilbao 1 Real Sociedad 3 Atletico Madrid 0 Villarreal 1 Real Betis 4


Played Saturday: Alaves 1 Valladolid 1 Deportivo Coruna 2 Espanyol 1 Racing Santander 2 Osasuna 3 Rayo Vallecano 0 Recreativo Huelva 0 Real Mallorca 1 Malaga 0 Sevilla 0 Valencia 3


Final standings: P W D L F A Pts 1. Real Madrid 38 22 12 4 86 42 78 - champions 2. Real Sociedad 38 22 10 6 71 45 76 3. Deportivo Coruna 38 22 6 10 67 47 72 4. Celta Vigo 38 17 10 11 45 36 61 5. Valencia 38 17 9 12 56 35 60 6. Barcelona 38 15 11 12 63 47 56 7. Athletic Bilbao 38 15 10 13 63 61 55 8. Real Betis 38 14 12 12 56 53 54 9. Real Mallorca 38 14 10 14 49 56 52 10. Sevilla 38 13 11 14 38 39 50 11. Osasuna 38 12 11 15 40 48 47 12. Atletico Madrid 38 12 11 15 51 56 47 13. Malaga 38 11 13 14 44 49 46 14. Valladolid 38 12 10 16 37 40 46 15. Villarreal 38 11 12 15 44 53 45 16. Racing Santander 38 13 5 20 54 64 44 17. Espanyol 38 10 13 15 48 54 43 18. Recreativo Huelva 38 8 12 18 35 61 36 - relegated 19. Alaves 38 8 11 19 38 68 35 - relegated 20. Rayo Vallecano 38 7 11 20 31 62 32 - relegated


Leading scorers in the Spanish first division after Sunday's final round of matches: 29 - Roy Makaay (Deportivo Coruna) 23 - Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Nihat Kahveci (Real Sociedad) 20 - Darko Kovacevic (Real Sociedad) 17 - Patrick Kluivert (Barcelona) 16 - Raul (Real Madrid) 15 - Javi Guerrero (Racing Santander), Fernando (Real Betis) 14 - Samuel Eto'o (Real Mallorca), Ismael Urzaiz (Athletic Bilbao), Joseba Etxeberria (Athletic Bilbao), Walter Pandiani (Real Mallorca) 13 - Fernando Torres (Atletico Madrid), Javier Saviola (Barcelona) 11 - Dario Silva (Malaga), Savo Milosevic (Espanyol), Edu (Celta Vigo), Santi Ezquerro (Athletic Bilbao) 10 - Ruben Navarro (Alaves), Dely Valdes (Malaga), Raul Molina (Recreativo Huelva), Raul Tamudo (Espanyol), Luis Figo (Real Madrid)


Bureau Report