Real Madrid retained their La Liga crown

Real Madrid retained their La Liga crown in dramatic style after beating Osasuna 2-1 at the Estadio Reyno de Navarra.



The defending champions were down to 10 men when Francisco Punal's penalty put the struggling hosts ahead with less than ten minutes remaining before late goals from Arjen Robben and Gonzalo Higuain ensured Los Merengues won back-to-back titles for the first time in 18 years.

Real will now be able to parade the trophy in front of their home fans on Wednesday night, when they host arch-rivals Barcelona, while Osasuna only remain outside the bottom three on goal difference.

Coach Bernd Schuster's side looked as though they would have to put their celebrations on hold after a hard-fought match with few chances, and things got worse for them when defender Fabio Cannavaro was sent off less than a minute after the break for a second yellow card.

When Gabriel Heinze handballed needlessly from a corner in the final ten minutes, Punal sent goalkeeper Iker Casillas the wrong way to calmly roll his penalty in, and it looked as though that goal would send Osasuna three points clear of the relegation zone. Going behind forced Real into showing their quality, and they equalised with their very next attack when substitute Higuain's free-kick was headed in by Robben.

Real followed that goal up with another swift attack. This time Sergio Ramos managed to slip a ball through to Higuain in the 89th minute and the Argentinian blasted the ball past Ricardo to spark wild celebrations on the pitch and on the Real bench.