Barcelona's Eric Abidal shows his jersey to the crowd after his last match with Barcelona after its Spanish first division soccer league match against Malaga at Camp Nou Stadium in Barcelona Saturday. Popular former France defender Abidal is to leave Barcelona when his contract expires at the end of the season. — Reuters BARCELONA — Barcelona is already aiming to build on its fourth Spanish league title in five seasons by pairing Lionel Messi with Brazil sensation Neymar, while Real Madrid is looking to president Florentino Perez to move past the tumultuous era of Jose Mourinho. Barcelona is set to welcome the 21-year-old Neymar Monday in its first major signing since the arrival of Cesc Fabregas two summers ago. The move appears to be a clear admission that the squad needed a boost as it tries to re-establish itself as the undisputed top team in Europe next season. Barcelona's humbling 7-0 overall loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League semifinals obscured what has in fact been the Catalan club's best domestic campaign — capped by matching the league record of 100 points with a 4-1 rout of Malaga Saturday. “The truth is that we were eliminated from the semifinals of the Champions League, but if we have to reach 100 points and score 115 goals to be happy, well then that's fine,” said Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova, who in his first season as Barcelona head coach fought through a second bout with cancer to improve on Pep Guardiola's best league effort. Under Vilanova, Barcelona not only robbed Madrid of its sole claim to the century points milestone set by Mourinho last season. It also established a club record of 115 goals, set the league's best start by earning 55 of the first 57 points, and ended with a club-record 15-point margin over Madrid. Messi was again the driving force behind Barcelona's march to its 22nd league crown. The Argentina forward scored 46 league goals, and was on pace to reach his own record of 50 from the season until he was sidelined by a right hamstring pull. Meanwhile, Madrid has entered a period of uncertainty after Perez agreed it was time to part ways with Mourinho following a third season that saw the team relinquish the title without much of a fight. It also bowed out of the Champions League semifinals for a third straight season under Mourinho, and had its first defeat to crosstown rival Atletico Madrid in 14 years in the final of the Copa del Rey. Mourinho leaves without having accomplished either of the two primary goals set by the club and its fans: bring an end to Barcelona's winning era and clinch an elusive 10th European Cup. He won the Copa del Rey in his first year and the Spanish league in his second, but failed to improve on that in a third campaign marked by the unpopular benching of goalkeeper Iker Casillas. Perez thanked Mourinho for making Madrid “competitive” again and said that the “door was open” to his return. The 66-year-old Perez will continue as the president of Real Madrid for the next four years after he ran unopposed in club elections that he called after Madrid ended the season without a major trophy. The gap between the two powerhouses and the other 18 teams was maintained this season, the ninth title in a row that Barcelona and Madrid have won between them. But there was the revival of Atletico, which provided Barcelona its biggest challenge before fading to a third-place finish. The exit of striker Radamel Falcao for Monaco, however, casts doubt over its ability to repeat such a season. Real Sociedad also celebrated a great season by finishing in fourth place and claiming the last Champions League berth. The attractive, attack-first styles of Real Betis and Rayo Vallecano also paid off with both earning Europa League berths. But the bleak financial situation for many clubs, combined with the extreme disparity in television revenues between Barcelona and Madrid and all the rest, will continue to restrict the league's overall competitiveness. Valencia is mired in debt and will miss out on Champions League money next season after finishing fifth. Malaga's once rising expectations have been undercut by the selling off of key players, the exit of coach Manuel Pellegrini, and its ban from the Europa League next season for not paying wages and taxes on time. — AP
