MADRID: Villarreal dampened Barcelona’s title celebrations by handing the Catalan club its first defeat of 2025 in the Spanish league on Sunday.
Barcelona, which clinched its 28th league title midweek, presented the trophy to its 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 its 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 its return to the Champions League for the first time since reaching the semifinals in 2022.
It 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.
Real Betis clinched one of the Europa League spots. Celta Vigo, Rayo Vallecano and Osasuna will be chasing the final Europa League place and the Conference League spot.
Leganes, owned by former Houston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow, and Espanyol will try to avoid the last relegation spot in the final round when Leganes is at last-placed Valladolid and Espanyol faces relegated Las Palmas.
Barcelona, Madrid, Atletico and Athletic will play in next year’s lucrative Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia.
All 10 games were played at the same time on Sunday.
Barcelona’s loss
Barcelona hadn’t lost in the league since a 2-1 defeat against Atletico on Dec. 21, with 15 wins and two draws since then. Villarreal’s win was its fifth straight victory in the league.
Ayoze Pérez put the visitors ahead after a breakaway four minutes into the match. The hosts equalized when Lamine Yamal scored with yet another beautiful goal in the teenager’s outstanding season, curling in a left-footed shot from outside the area.
Fermín López put Barcelona ahead in first-half stoppage time, but Santiago Comesaña scored for Villarreal in the 50th and Tajon Buchanan netted the winner in the 80th.
It was likely the last match Barcelona played at Montjuic stadium as the club plans to return to the Camp Nou Stadium next season even though renovation work at the venue is not expected to be fully completed until mid-2026.
Mbappé’s goals
Mbappé strengthened his chances of finishing as the league’s top scorer this season with a goal from a low shot from outside the area in the 75th.
Mbappé now has 29 league goals. Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski (25 goals) is his nearest rival.
Sevilla’s Loic Bade was sent off in the 12th for a foul on Mbappé to stop a breakaway. Then Isaac Romero was shown a red card for a hard foul on Aurélien Tchouaméni.
It was the second-to-last match for Madrid under Carlo Ancelotti before he becomes Brazil coach. Xabi Alonso is widely expected to be Madrid’s next coach.
Sevilla, sitting in 16th place, had only one win in its last 10 games.
Relegation fight
Leganes kept its survival hopes alive by winning 1-0 at Las Palmas with a sixth-minute goal by Dani Raba.
It is two points behind the first team outside the relegation zone, Espanyol, which remained in danger after a 2-0 loss at Osasuna for its fifth straight defeat.
Alaves escaped the drop by winning 1-0 at Valladolid, while Getafe did the same by beating Mallorca 2-1 to end a six-game losing run.
Second-to-last Las Palmas and bottom side Valladolid had already been relegated.
European places
Celta Vigo lost 2-1 at home to Rayo Vallecano but holds the final Europa League spot in seventh place. It is one point ahead of both eighth-placed Rayo — in the Conference League position — and ninth-placed Osasuna.
Rayo will host Mallorca in the final round, while Osasuna visits Alaves and Celta is at Getafe.
Spanish Super Cup
The top two teams in the league and the Copa del Rey finalists are awarded places in the Spanish Super Cup. Since this season’s final was between Barcelona and Madrid, two other spots were made available through the league.
Third-placed Atletico guaranteed its spot with a 4-1 win over Betis with Julián Álvarez scoring twice, including with a superb curling free kick in the first half. Fourth-placed Athletic Bilbao won 1-0 at Valencia with a goal by Álex Berenguer.
Alguacil honored
Real Sociedad honored coach Imanol Alguacil in its final home match, a 3-2 win against Girona.
Alguacil will step down this summer after a mostly successful six-and-a-half-year stint in charge of the Basque Country club.
Villarreal dampens Barcelona’s title celebrations. Mbappé scores again for Madrid
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Villarreal dampens Barcelona’s title celebrations. Mbappé scores again for Madrid
- Villarreal’s victory secured its return to the Champions League for the first time since reaching the semifinals in 2022
Afghan IOC member Asghari hopes Taliban dialogue sparks women’s rights u-turn
- Asghari, who in 2018 became Afghanistan’s first ever IOC member, accepts her “situation is quite challenging” and beating the drum for Afghan women’s sport “does require certain precautions“
- Asghari says the “conversations are not always easy“
PARIS: Afghanistan’s International Olympic Committee member Samira Asghari has told AFP that the Taliban authorities need to realize that if they are ever to be accepted internationally they must respect the rights of women to education and sport.
Asghari, who at 31 is living in exile for the second time, does however favor engaging with Afghanistan’s rulers.
The Taliban government has banned girls from schools beyond the age of 12, and barred women from most jobs and public services — and from playing sport.
Asghari, who in 2018 became Afghanistan’s first ever IOC member, accepts her “situation is quite challenging” and beating the drum for Afghan women’s sport “does require certain precautions.”
Nevertheless, the former international basketball player, like many top Afghan women athletes, is undeterred in speaking out about the treatment of women under the Taliban authorities.
“The reality is that when you take a public stand for women’s rights you do become a target, but I believe strongly in communication and engagement,” she said in an email interview.
“As long as the Taliban remain the reality on the ground in Afghanistan, we cannot afford to waste time doing nothing.
“In my role, I have tried to help smooth the discussions between the IOC and those currently in control, focusing on the sport rights of women and girls and particularly primary school girls who are still inside Afghanistan.”
The IOC has held discussions with the Taliban authorities since 2021, after some Afghan athletes, coaches and their families were evacuated from the country.
In negotiations ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, the IOC secured the presence of a gender-balanced team of Afghan athletes, all of whom were in exile.
Asghari, one of four children of a retired professional make-up artist mother and a father who was a manager in the Afghan Olympic national committee, says the “conversations are not always easy.”
“They are not about legitimising any government,” she said.
“But they are very important for creating tangible opportunities for future generations of young boys and girls in Afghanistan.”
- ‘Fundamental change’ -
With Afghan sportswomen spread round the globe, putting together teams is complex.
However, a women’s football team, Afghan Women United, made up of players based in Europe and Australia, recently competed in FIFA Unites: Women’s Series 2025 in Morocco.
“This support for athletes outside Afghanistan is just the first step, and I hope FIFA can align with the IOC’s ongoing talks with the Taliban,” she said.
Asghari hopes the message gets through to Afghanistan’s rulers.
“The Taliban were given the country and now they’re trying to maintain power while ignoring fundamental human rights, particularly for women,” she said.
“It’s very difficult for them to continue ruling Afghanistan this way in the long term, and the Taliban need to understand that their international acceptance is directly linked to respecting human rights, including the rights of women to education and sport.”
Asghari, who attended the recent Islamic Solidarity Games in Riyadh where Afghan women and men competed, said she hoped for “small openings” in the Taliban’s stance.
“I also believe that if we can find small openings — like developing sport in primary schools where girls are still allowed to attend up to sixth grade — we should take them,” she said.
“This isn’t about accepting the Taliban’s restrictions, it’s about not abandoning the girls and women of Afghanistan.
“We have to work with reality, while continuing to push for fundamental change.”
Asghari says even achieving small breakthroughs like that could prevent the long-term harm women suffered during the Taliban’s first spell in power, from 1996 to 2001.
She said had seen the impact on her return from her first period of exile, in Iran.
“What concerns me deeply is that we’re creating another lost generation,” she said.
“I remember when I was in sixth grade aged 12, and there was a 20-year-old woman sitting next to me in the same class because she couldn’t go to school during the previous Taliban era.
“I didn’t know how to communicate with her and it was difficult for both of us, but especially for her because she had lost so many years.
“I cannot accept seeing this happen again. That’s why even small opportunities matter so much.”
Asghari retains hope despite the bleak outlook and believes in “continued engagement and dialogue” with the Taliban.
“The future of Afghanistan is this young generation. We need to give them every opportunity we can, no matter how small, and never, ever give up on them.”
