Messi scores to help Barca win the championship three rounds early; Ronaldo scores to help Juventus draw with Inter

Barca won the championship early

With Atletico beating Valladolid 1-0 in the early game of round 35, Barca needed all three points against Levante if they wanted to be crowned champions. That explains why the leaders were under a lot of psychological pressure in the first half.

Against Levante's resilient defense, Barca barely knew how to score. Luis Suarez, Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele all shot off goalkeeper Aitor's hand or wide of the goal in 11 of their early turbulences. Barca also had bad luck with VAR, the referee advisory system that did not award a penalty after Rober tripped Suarez. In addition to the psychological pressure, Barca's ineffective performance in the first half was also due to Lionel Messi starting on the bench. Along with Sergio Busquets and Sergi Roberto, Messi was one of three players given a rest to prepare for the first leg of the Champions League semi-final. Coach Valverde also left many other high-class reserves on the sidelines, such as Malcom, Carles Alena, and Samuel Umtiti.

Messi celebrates after scoring.

After a lackluster performance in the first half, the Spanish coach finally changed his mind. And the first person he chose to replace him was none other than Messi, the player leading the race for La Liga's top scorer with 33 goals.

Messi's appearance from the 46th minute immediately had a positive impact on the attack. He soon had a combination with Dembele and a shot towards Levante's goal.

Levante only held out for a short while before succumbing in the 62nd minute. Receiving a header from Arturo Vidal, Messi controlled the ball to fool two defenders and then curled the ball into the net, deflecting it off Aitor's hand. A one-goal lead was enough for Barca to win the title. So, after the opening goal, the Catalan team took the initiative to defend their achievement. Gerard Pique, Nelson Semedo and Busquets all did not hesitate to receive yellow cards.

With a narrow win over Levante, Barca has 83 points after 35 rounds of La Liga. Due to a nine-point advantage and a direct head-to-head record over second-place Atletico, Valverde's team won the championship early. This is also Barca's 26th La Liga title, and the eighth in the last 11 seasons. Juventus won the Scudetto in the previous round. The Italian derby on the evening of April 27, with the "Old Lady" only meant to help their number one star Cristiano Ronaldo accelerate in the race for the top scorer with Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria) and Duvan Zapata (Atalanta). Meanwhile, Inter is third, only five points ahead of the fifth and sixth-placed teams (Atalanta, AC Milan). In addition to "concreting" a place in the Champions League next season, Luciano Spalletti's team also wants to pay off the debt of losing 0-1 in the first leg.

Ronaldo scored

Facing an inconsistent Juventus that seemed to have not recovered from the shock of being eliminated from the Champions League, Inter took the lead and scored an early goal in the seventh minute of the Italian derby on the evening of April 27.

Radja Nainggolan curled the ball from 25 metres out, sending it into Wojciech Szczesny's goal. It wasn't until midway through the second half that the visitors equalised, when Ronaldo fired a low shot from the edge of the 16m50, sending the ball towards the near post, sealing a 1-1 draw.

A goal against Inter could not help Ronaldo rise to the top of the scoring list (two goals behind Quagliarella), but it was enough for the 34-year-old superstar to become the first player to score 20 or more goals in 10 consecutive seasons in the national championship. The former Real Madrid player is also the fourth Juventus player, since 2000, to score at San Siro in both away matches against AC Milan and Inter, after Gonzalo Higuain, Marco Di Vaio and David Trezeguet.

Ronaldo's goal.

On the evening of April 27, Lionel Messi scored the only goal to help Barca beat Levante 1-0 and win La Liga early. However, the Argentine superstar is still behind Ronaldo in terms of club-level goalscoring achievements. With the equalizer in the match against Inter, Juventus' number 7 scored his 600th goal for the club, and is two goals ahead of Messi.

Ronaldo scored three hat-tricks in the last four rounds of La Liga in 2014-2015 to surpass Messi to win the Golden Boot after Barca won the title early. The same thing could happen this season when Juventus' remaining opponents are all inferior to Max Allegri's team.

Ronaldo last scored in Serie A on February 15, against Frosinone. Since then, the Portuguese superstar has only played three more matches and lost his top spot in the scoring charts. Ronaldo's return to scoring form has made it easier for Allegri to arrange his squad, with three other attackers, Paulo Dybala, Mario Mandzukic and Douglas Costa, all bedridden. Inter have a good grasp of Juventus' squad. The home team pressed high and almost did not let the Old Lady have the ball in the first half. In addition to Nainggolan's long-range shot, Inter also created trouble from Mauro Icardi and Ivan Perisic's positions. If Szczesny had not played with concentration, the visitors' net could have shaken twice more in the first 45 minutes.

In the second half, Allegri increased his attacking firepower with the young duo Moise Kean and Leonardo Spinazzola. This adjustment helped Ronaldo feel less lost in the attack. The equalizer of the owner of five Golden Balls was thanks to Kean, when the striker born in 2000 moved in the 5m50 area and attracted the attention of two Inter defenders. The 1-1 draw satisfied both teams. Juventus maintained their record of not losing the Italian derby for three consecutive years, while Inter widened the gap with the teams ranked fifth and sixth to six points but played one more match. In the context of Atalanta having to visit Lazio and Juventus, and AC Milan's form declining, the Nerazzurri have a good chance of participating in the Champions League for the second consecutive season.