Barcelona are crowned champion of the Liga BBVA

The 2014/15 Liga BBVA throne now has an owner. FC Barcelona were crowned champions after 37 games. 93 points, 108 goals scored and only 19 against are the main numbers behind the azulgrana success, and they retain the crown after being defeated on the last day on last season by Atlético Madrid.

Luck would have it that Barcelona sealed their BBVA Liga title against Atlético and at the Vicente Calderón. This is a reverse of what happened last year. Following, Barcelona's 0-1 win on the banks of the Manzares, Luis Enrique’smen have returned Barcelona to the summit of Spanish football.

FC Barcelona were seen as favourites from the start of the championship, They won 22 of the first 24 possible points and did so without conceding any goals. Claudio Bravo, the Barcelona goalkeeper, beat the record for not letting in a goal at the start of a season, going 725 minutes without conceding. Also, the Chilean goalkeeper is the best placed keeper to win the prize for fewest goals conceded, the tally currently stands at 19.

Cristiano Ronaldo was the first player who managed to breach the Barcelona goal this season, in the Whites’ 3-1 victory at the Santiago Bernabéu. The defeat did not go down well for the Catalan side, who also lost the following week, against Celta at the Camp Nou. Soon afterwards on matchday 12, Leo Messi provided the church of the azulgranas with some joy by setting a new record: the Argentinian become the all-time leading scorer in the history of the Liga BBVA, surpassing Telmo Zarra with a hat-trick against Sevilla FC. The player from Rosario is currently on 284 strikes.

The last months of 2014 and January 2015 were the most complicated for Barcelona, with Real Madrid flying high and Luis Enrique’s men in a somewhat unstable position. They reached their low with a defeat in Anoeta against Real Sociedad in the first La Liga BBVA game of 2015, but they were able to react and since then they have only suffered one defeat: against Málaga CF at the Camp Nou.

Barcelona managed to cut back the deficit they had in relation to Carlo Ancelotti’s squad and went into El clásico one point ahead of Madrid with 11 games left in the season. In the game, vital for the outcome of the Liga BBVA, Jérémy Mathieu and Luis Suárez led Barcelona to a 2-1 win that put them four points ahead of Real Madrid.

Since then, they have only suffered one minor setback: a  2-2 draw against Sevilla FC at the Sánchez-Pizjuán. The Catalan side's final stretch in the Liga BBVA has been a sprint: six consecutive wins scoring 26 goals and not conceding any. In the middle of the run, Xavi Hernández reached his 500th Liga BBVA appearance. The midfielder from Tarrasa reached the number against RCD Espanyol and had reached 504 games by the end of the season.

It addition to shining defensively, Barcelona have also excelled in attack. The offensive trio of Luis Enrique’s squad have scored 115 goals in all competitions and have three games to overtake the 118 goals scored by Cristiano Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuaín and Karim Benzema during the 2011/12 season. The three players have scored ¿78? goals, in the Liga BBVA, with Leo Messi leading on 41, as he continues to fight for the top goal scorer in the league against Cristiano Ronaldo. Neymar has scored 22 goals and Luis Suárez has 16.

Now, Barcelona are aiming to put the icing on the cake to a great season. The final of Copa del Rey against Athletic Club at the Camp Nou and UEFA Champions League final against Juventus in Berlin are the next big games for Barcelona. Congratulations to the champion!