La Liga: Villarreal hand rare loss to Barca, dampen title celebrations

Newly crowned Spanish champions suffer anticlimax in their last home game of the season

- AGENCIES

Villarreal dampened Barcelona's title celebrations by handing the Catalan club their first defeat of 2025 in the Spanish league on Monday (IST).

Barcelona, who clinched their 28th league title midweek, presented the trophy to their fans in the team's final home match of the season at Montjuic stadium. Players were announced one by one after the game, which Villarreal won 3-2, before lifting the trophy.

Barcelona's Spanish Super Cup and Copa del Rey trophies also were displayed at Montjuic, with players dancing around the silverware during the celebrations.

"We can be proud of this team for winning these titles and for how it did it," Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen said. "We had a great season in all levels."

Before the match, Villarreal players did a guard of honor for the new league champions, with their players lining up to congratulate Barcelona as the team entered the field.

Real Madrid won 2-0 at nine-man Sevilla, with Kylian Mbappé extending his league-leading tally to 29 goals with one round to go. Jude Bellingham also scored. Madrid reached 81 points, four fewer than Barcelona.

Villarreal's victory secured their return to the Champions League for the first time since reaching the semifinals in 2022.

They will join Barcelona, Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao in Europe's top club competition next season. Spain will have five clubs in the Champions League next season.