Lionel Messi strike hands Barcelona La Liga title

A second-half goal from Lionel Messi has handed Barcelona the La Liga title and a 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid at the Vicente Calderon this evening.

Atletico came close to opening the scoring inside the first 10 minutes when a corner found Jose Gimenez at the near post, but Claudio Bravo quickly got across to make the save.

Messi had the first opportunity of the night for Barcelona when Dani Alves crossed the ball in for the Argentine, but his header was straight at the keeper.

Alves was involved again late in the first half, winning a free kick just on the edge of the box, but Messi's curling effort from the resulting set piece struck the crossbar.

Messi tried to set up Neymar with a low cross shortly before the interval, but Juanfran was on hand to block the effort, keeping the sides level at half time.

The home side made the brighter start to the second half, and came close to breaking the deadlock when Fernando Torres burst into the box, but Bravo was ready to keep the striker's effort out.

The league leaders were the ones to open the scoring, though, as Pedro combined with Messi shortly after the hour mark, leaving the latter to rifle into the bottom corner.

Barcelona could have doubled their advantage a few minutes later as Andres Iniesta slid the ball in for Neymar, but the Brazilian fired wide, before slicing another effort well high moments later.

Atletico came close to equalising late on when Guilherme Siqueira tried to pick out the top corner, but Bravo made the save, ensuring that Barcelona will finish the season at the top of the table.

The result keeps Barcelona four points clear of Real Madrid with just one fixture remaining, while Atletico stay third in the table.