Real Madrid wins first La Liga crown since 2012; Juventus clinches record sixth consecutive Serie A title

Real Madrid won the Spanish league for the first time since 2012 with a 2-0 win over Malaga while Juventus clinched a record sixth consecutive Italian league title with a 3-0 win over relegation-threatened Crotone in the penultimate round on Sunday.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored two minutes into the La Liga match and Karim Benzema sealed the victory in the second half.

That gave Madrid a three-point advantage over second-place Barcelona, which rallied from two goals down to beat Eibar 4-2 at the Camp Nou.

Madrid entered the last round needing a draw to avoid its worst title drought since the 1980s and keep Barcelona from its third straight championship.

Zinedine Zidane’s team won its 33rd league title.

Mario Mandzukic gave Juventus the lead 12 minutes in by redirecting a cross from Juan Cuadrado, Paulo Dybala scored with a precise free kick shortly before the break and Alex Sandro added another with a header near the end.

Juventus moved four points clear of second-placed Roma, which last Sunday handed the Bianconeri their first Serie A loss since January.

Since Serie A was founded in 1929, no club had previously won more than five straight titles.

Torino won five consecutive titles from 1943-49 (including a season that was canceled due to World War II), Inter Milan took five straight from 2006-10 and Juventus claimed a handful from 1931-35.

“We’ve written one of the greatest pages in the book of football history,” said Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon, who also won the 2002 and 2003 Serie A titles with Juventus.

“Winning is never easy,” Buffon added. “Beyond what people say, staying at the top is synonymous with sacrifice on everyone’s part. If you want to always win matches, you’ve got to always have your head in focus and your legs prepared.”

It’s the second title in five days for Juventus after a 2-0 win over Lazio in the Italian Cup final on Wednesday.

The Bianconeri has a chance to complete the treble with a victory over Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo in the Champions League final on June 3.