Madrid, May 17 (Inditop) Barcelona are Spanish league champions for the 19th time after second-place Real Madrid suffered a late 3-2 defeat Saturday at sixth-placed Villarreal.

Their third straight defeat leaves Real eight points behind Barca – who play Sunday at Mallorca – with just two games left.

Real’s defeat was greeted with noisy street celebrations in Barcelona. Barca are on course to pull off an unprecedented “treble” of league, cup and Champions League titles. They thrashed Athletic Bilbao 4-1 in Wednesday’s cup final and face holders Manchester United in the Champions final May 27 in Rome.

By rounak