Barcelona and Real Madrid secured thrilling wins in a dramatic day of league action Saturday to make sure the Spanish title race will be decided on the final weekend of the season. Barcelona nearly threw away a three-goal lead before beating Sevilla 3-2 with goals from Leo Messi, Bojan Krkic and Pedro Rodriguez. Madrid had a devastating second half to beat 10-man Athletic Bilbao 5-1, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Ramos, Karim Benzema and Marcelo all scoring. Barcelona goes into the final weekend on a record 96 points, one more than Madrid. With the title race going to the wire, European places still up for grabs and the relegation battle still alive, all the weekend's 10 league games were played simultaneously. Sevilla is fourth on 60 points and Mallorca fifth on 59 after losing 1-0 to Deportivo La Coruna, ensuring the fight for fourth spot will also run to the final weekend. Villarreal kept alive its hopes of climbing into the Europa League berths for next season by beating Valencia 2-0. Giuseppe Rossi and Joseba Llorente scored for the host in the first half. Valencia, on 68 points, had little to play for having already secured third place. In other games it was: Getafe 2, Malaga 1; Sporting Gijon 1, Atletico Madrid 1; Valladolid 2, Racing Santander 1; Tenerife 2, Almeria 2; Xerez 3, Zaragoza 2; and Espanyol 2, Osasuna 1. Leeds earns promotion Blackpool beat Nottingham Forest 2-1 in the first leg of the playoffs for promotion to the Premier League, while Leeds returned to the League Championship after a 2-1 victory over Bristol Rovers. Out of the top flight since 1971, Blackpool goes to Forest in Tuesday's second leg with the overall winner facing either Leicester or Cardiff in the May 22 final at Wembley. Newcastle and West Bromwich Albion have already captured the top two automatic spots after finishing first and second in the Championship. Leeds is promoted with Norwich from League One. Grimsby dropped out of league football after 99 years after losing 3-0 at Burton in League Two. Bayern seals Bundesliga title Bayern Munich officially sealed the Bundesliga title by winning 3-1 at relegated Hertha Berlin in the final round Saturday. Schalke drew 0-0 at Mainz and will join Bayern in the Champions League next season. Hannover won 3-0 at Bochum to send the home team to the second division. Nuremberg beat Cologne 1-0 and will go into a playoff against Augsburg, the third-place team in the second division, with the winner in the top tier next season. Werder Bremen clinched third place and a slot in qualifying for the Champions League by drawing 1-1 with Hamburg, which will not compete in Europe next season. Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund and Stuttgart will be in the Europa League, at various stages of qualifying.
