By DPA
Madrid : Real Madrid's fighting spirit gave them their 30th Spanish league title, with a trademark come-from-behind 3-1 home win over Mallorca.
As usual, Real made things difficult for themselves and needed two late goals from Jose Antonio Reyes and one from Mahamadou Diarra, after Fernando Varela had given Mallorca a shock early lead Sunday.
"This is a really wonderful moment", said Ruud Van Nistelrooy as the Estadio Bernabeu exploded with delight at the end.
Van Nistelrooy, league top scorer with 25 goals, had limped off after just half an hour with a pulled muscle.
Barcelona also won their last match, 5-1 down in Tarragona, but now surrender their "Liga" crown to Real on the Spanish direct results system, having taken four points off Barca this season in their head-to-head clashes.
Barca and Real both finish the season on 76 points, the lowest total for a champion for seven years.
Real made a nervous start in a packed Bernabeu and Mallorca's Juan Arango hit the Real post with a left-foot shot in the very first minute.
In the 16th minute the Bernabeu was silenced when Varela shot Mallorca ahead, on a clever pass from Arango.
Real looked stunned and rarely threatened to equalize before the break.
Things went from bad to worse in the 32nd minute when Van Nistelrooy – whose goals have been decisive – reluctantly limped off.
At the start of the second half Varela had a good chance to increase Mallorca's lead but shot wide.
In the 57th minute a free-kick from David Beckham hit the Mallorca bar. The Englishman was then replaced by Reyes, an inspired substitution on the part of Fabio Capello.
Reyes levelled with almost his first touch in the 67th minute, turning in a centre from Gonzalo Higuain.
Real now needed just one more goal, and it came in the 79th minute, when a Diarra header from a corner squeezed in between keeper Miguel Moya and Angelos Bassinas.
Reyes put the icing on the cake three minutes later with a classy third goal, a left-foot drive from just outside the area.
Then the celebrations could begin – in the Bernabeu, in the Plaza de Cibeles and throughout the capital.
This is Real's first trophy since 2003 and allows Beckham and Roberto Carlos to sign off in triumph.
Barcelona, meanwhile, were cruising to a 5-1 romp down in Tarragona, who were relegated three weeks ago.
Star of the show was wunderkind Lionel Messi with two goals. Carles Puyol had opened the scoring, Ronaldino and Gianluca Zambrotta put away the other goals.
The Barca players and fans were on cloud nine when they heard that Real were losing – but were pulled down to earth towards the end, as Real turned the tables on Mallorca.
"We did what we had to do tonight," said Puyol, "but in football you can't really rely on other results going your way."
UEFA Cup holders Sevilla surprisingly lost 1-0 at home to Villarreal, on a goal from Fabricio Fuentes.
This means that Sevilla finish third, with 71 points, though they still have next Saturday's King's Cup final against Getafe to look forward to.
The win in Seville means that in-form Villarreal finish fifth, just four points below fourth-placed Valencia.
A late goal from Diego Milito – second in the scorers' chart behind Van Nistelrooy – gave Zaragoza a late 1-1 draw in Huelva, which means they finish sixth and go into the UEFA Cup with Villarreal.
Atletico Madrid finish seventh – with the choice of entering the Intertoto Cup – despite a 2-1 win away to Osasuna.
Earlier on Sunday the games with relegation significance had been played, in which Betis and Athletic Bilbao saved themselves – at the expense of Celta Vigo and Real Sociedad.
Betis won 2-0 up in Santander with late goals from Brazilian Edu.
Bilbao also needed second-half goals to beat Levante 2-0.
Celta came from behind to beat Getafe 2-1, but it was too little too late to save Hristo Stoichov's team.
Sociedad drew 3-3 in Valencia but not even a win there would have saved tem, given the the rresults.
Tarragona finish bottom with 28 points. Then come Sociedad on 35 and Celta on 39. Betis and Bilbao both finish on 40.