Betis relegated from Spanish league after draw

Real Betis was relegated from the Spanish league on Sunday after drawing 1-1 with Valladolid.

Victories by Osasuna and Sporting Gijon coupled with Getafe’s 1-1 draw at Racing Santander in the final round ensured Betis will play in the second division for the first time since 2001.

Getafe and Betis both finished with 42 points but Getafe stayed up because it had scored one more goal this season.

Many of the 55,150 spectators at Ruiz Lopera stadium wept openly as Betis joined Recreativo Huelva and Numancia in the second division.

“Once again football has been unjust with us,” said Betis coach Jose Maria Nogues, who replaced the fired Paco Chaparro with nine games to play. “We deserved to win.”

Valladolid substitute Marcos Aguirre sent a left-footed shot past Ricardo Soares in the 45th minute for his first goal of the season.

Ricardo Oliveira headed Mark Gonzalez’s looping cross in at the far post to equalize for Betis in the 49th. The Brazilian striker hit the post with a low shot in the 57th and a Edu Schmidt header struck the crossbar as Betis strove to conjure up a winner.

Spanish media reported that Betis fans took out their frustration after a season that contained only four home wins by hurling bottles and rocks onto the field. TV images showed a group of fans outside the stadium in front of police, with at least one person in handcuffs, and police fired rubber bullets inside the stadium as fans attempted to break into the presidential box.

Betis was still safe until Osasuna and Sporting both rallied from 1-0 deficits with second-half winning goals.

Juanfran Torres volleyed a long-range strike beyond Iker Casillas in the 60th as Osasuna beat 10-man Real Madrid 2-1, and Luis Moran’s 68th-minute goal completed a 2-1 win over Recreativo.

Sporting finished 14th with 43 points, the same as Osasuna and Valladolid.

“The same as always - we suffered to the end,” Sporting coach Manuel Preciado said.

On Saturday, Barcelona drew 1-1 at Deportivo La Coruna having already clinched its 19th league title.

Barcelona racked up a record 87 points from 38 games, scoring 105 goals - two short of Real Madrid’s record tally of 107 scored during the 1989-90 season.

The Catalan club scored 154 goals in all competitions to become the first Spanish club to win the league, the Champions League and the Copa del Rey in one season.

Madrid’s fifth straight loss - at the same ground where it clinched its second straight league title last season - meant it finished with 78 points in second place.

Sevilla finished third with 70 points after a 2-0 win at Numancia on Sunday. Emiliano Armenteros scored in the 87th minute before Juan Carlos Moreno’s own-goal in injury-time sealed the result.

Atletico Madrid clinched the final Champions League spot on Saturday thanks to a 3-0 win over Almeria.

Villarreal and Valencia were both winners Saturday to finish fifth and sixth and will play in next season’s Europa League - formerly the UEFA Cup - alongside Athletic Bilbao. The Basque-only club’s defeat to Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final was enough to put it into Europe for the first time in five seasons.

Atletico’s Diego Forlan finished the season as top scorer with 32 goals in 34 games. The Uruguay striker became the eighth player to win the Pichichi award twice, after also scoring 25 goals during the 2004-05 season with Villarreal.

Barcelona’s Samuel Eto’o finished second with 30 goals, while Valencia’s David Villa had 28.

Gonzalo Higuain scored first for Madrid after controlling Lassana Diarra’s long ball and cutting into the right edge of the area to beat Ricardo Lopez with a low drive. It was the Madrid striker’s 22nd goal of the season.

But Jaroslav Plasil equalized two minutes later when Casillas let the Czech midfielder’s shot through his hands at the near post.

Madrid was reduced to 10 men from the 56th when Michel Salgado was red carded for impeding Plasil’s run toward the area.

Sporting’s David Barral equalized in the 59th after Ersen Martin’s earlier goal, before Barral hit the winner with a near identical strike from the right side of the area eight minutes later.

Toni Moral put Racing ahead in the 35th at El Sardinero stadium, but Esteban Granero equalized four minutes later from a quick counterattack to save Getafe.