A jubilant Ronaldinho on Wednesday when Barcelona beat Celta Vigo. (AFP)

Madrid: Barcelona retained their Primera Liga title on Wednesday after second-placed Valencia lost 1-2 at struggling Real Mallorca while they went on to beat high-flying Celta Vigo 1-0 in the evening’s late match.

Leading striker Samuel Eto’ scored his 25th goal of the season to earn Frank Rijkaard’s side a victory that left them with an unassailable 11-point lead over their rivals who have just two games left to play (briefly reported in Thursday’s Late City edition).

Barcelona, who have a game in hand, top the table on 79 points, Valencia have 68 from 36, two ahead of Real Madrid who will face struggling Racing Santander next.

Osasuna, who won 1-0 at Atletico Madrid, occupy the final Champions League place a point further behind Real and five ahead of Celta.

It is the Catalan club’s 18th league title and they are the first team to successfully defend the crown since they won back-to-back titles in 1998 and 1999 under another Dutch coach Louis van Gaal.

Rijkaard’s team has the chance to cap a brilliant season with a European triumph as they play Arsenal in the Champions League final in Paris on May 17.

Barcelona’s players were told they had won the title as they left the pitch at half-time against Celta and the substitutes celebrated by throwing water over each other.

At the same time in Barcelona, fans of the club began to stream out on to the streets to celebrate the triumph.

The team emerged for the second half in the bizarre position of knowing they had won the title, yet with 45 minutes of their game left to play.

Suitably enough it was leading scorer Eto’ who grabbed the winner when he juggled the ball past two defenders and tucked it inside the post after a surging run by Mark van Bommel.

The Cameroon international was enveloped by all his teammates who bounced up and down in celebration of the goal and the league title.

Bayern Munich moved to the brink of a 20th German league title when they came from behind to beat VfB Stuttgart 3-1 on Wednesday.

Danijel Ljuboja gave Stuttgart an early lead at the Allianz Arena but goals from Roque Santa Cruz, Claudio Pizarro and Bastian Schweinsteiger restored Bayern’s five-point lead over Hamburg SV with two games left to play.

Bayern will clinch the Bundesliga title, and seal an unprecedented second successive league and Cup double, if they win away to Kaiserslautern on Saturday, or if Hamburg fail to beat Hertha Berlin in the capital.

(Reuters)