Real close to La Liga title

 　　MADRID, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Real Madrid will have to wait until at least Wednesday night until they have the chance of being crowned as champions of La Liga after both they and FC Barcelona won their respective matches Sunday.

　　Real Madrid kicked off the day knowing that if they won and Barcelona lost in Vallecas against Rayo Vallecano then they would be champions with three games remaining in the season.
　　Real Madrid completed their part of the bargain with a comfortable 3-0 win against Sevilla in a game that was at times more complicated than the final result implies.
　　Once again, however, Madrid's power in attack made the difference. Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring in the first half, while two goals in three minutes shortly after halftime from Karim Benzema sealed the result by the 52nd minute.
　　The Madrid players were ready for late night celebrations, but Barcelona, playing their first game since Friday's announcement that Tito Vilanova would replace Pep Guardiola as coach at the end of the season, were clearly in a mood to pay honor to the coach who has led them to 13 titles in four years and they hammered Rayo 7-0.
　　The Catalans stormed into a 3-0 first half lead thanks to Leo Messi, A Rober own goal and Seydou Keita. Pedro Rodriguez added a fourth early in the second half, Tiago made it 5-0 and late goals from Pedro and Messi (his 43rd league goal of the campaign) rounded off the win.
　　Madrid will now be champions if their win away to Athletic 1 Club Bilbao or Barca lose at home to Malaga on Wednesday.
　　Malaga remain fourth, but drew level on points with third placed Valencia are a 1-0 home win over their rivals. Ignacio Camacho's first half goal was the difference between the two sides, while Valencia had Sophiane Feghouli sent off 15 minutes from time.
　　Atletico Madrid paid for their Europa League exploits on Thursday night and dropped two points away to Betis. Radamal Falcao scored a 94th minute equalizer for Atletico, who nevertheless see how their chances of a top four finish have just about disappeared, along with those of Athletic Club Bilbao, another club, whose midweeks efforts took their toll 2.
　　Athletic's tiredness was a major help to Zaragoza, who defeated their rivals 2-0 thanks to goals from Edu Oriol and Apono, to keep their hopes of avoiding relegation 3 intact.
　　Saturday saw Racing 4 Santander become the first team to be relegated 5 to the second division after they were defeated 3-0 away to Real Sociedad.
　　The win, which came thanks to two goals from Antoine Griezmann and a strike from Imanol Agirretxe, means that Real Sociedad are safe from the drop with three games left to play.
　　Sporting Gijon kept their chances of avoiding relegation alive with a 3-0 win away to a lackluster Espanyol.
　　Second half goals from Adrian Colunga, Oscar Trejo and Mate Bilic gave them a vital win, while at the same time virtually ending Espanyol's chances of playing in Europe next season.
　　Sporting and Zaragoza both now have 34 points and are three points from safety with three games left two play.
　　Getafe almost waved goodbye to their European hopes with a 3-1 thrashing at home to Mallorca. Victor Casadesus, Alejandro Alfaro and Tomed Hemed had put Mallorca 3-0 up before Alexis netted a late consolation 6 for the home side.
　　In contrast Levante took a big step towards a top six finish by beating Granada 3-1. Aruna Kone opened the scoring just after halftime and although Odion Ighalo equalized soon afterwards, Xabi Torres and Valdo sealed the win to keep Levante fifth, but which leaves Granada with work to do before they can celebrate avoiding relegation.
　　Saturday ended with tension in the El Madrigal 7 Stadium between Villarreal and Osasuna. Villarreal kicked off just three points ahead of Sporting and with a trip to Gijon in midweek.
　　Bruno Soriano scored for Villarreal two minutes before halftime, but Raul Garcia stunned 8 the home fans with a goal from a fine dipping volley with 18 minutes remaining to draw Osasuna level.
　　The last 18 minutes saw Villarreal try to recover and look for the winning goal, but it was not to be and they are now just 4 points above the drop zone with three games left to play, meaning their trip to Gijon next week could be decisive.