La Liga Week 38 Saturday Review

Jorge Sampaoli seemingly signed off from Sevilla with a ‘manita’ against Osasuna as Las Palmas took another hammering in Quique Setien’s final game.

Sporting Gijon 2-2 Real Betis

Relegated Sporting Gijon salvaged some pride after they drew 2-2 with Real Betis in La Liga on Saturday.

Barcelona loanee Douglas pulled a shot into Dani Gimenez’s bottom right, but an awful mistake from Ivan Cuellar saw him rush off his line, miss the ball and gift Ruben Castro a tap-in.

Castro then bent one beautifully into Cuellar’s far-bottom corner for his brace, but Betis were made to pay for Jonas Martin crashing a free header onto the crossbar as Carlos Carmona bundled home from a lucky bounce in the box.

The Andalusians end the season on 39 points and in 15th place, six points and five positions worse off from last term, while Sporting finish 18th, four points adrift of Leganes.

Leganes 1-1 Alaves

Leganes capped off the greatest season in their history with a 1-1 draw against Copa del Rey finalists Alaves on Saturday.

Christian Santos should’ve given Alaves the lead when he made sure of a shot in Leganes’ box, but the Venezuelan was wrongly flagged offside.

Nonetheless, Nenad Krsticic nodded in Zouhair Feddal’s cross from left-hand byline for 1-0 to the visitors.

Nereo Champagne kept the hosts in the game with a great save down low to keep out Ibai Gomez’s side-footer.

Leganes piled on the pressure in the latter stages, and Fernando Pacheco pushed away Dimitris Siovas’ shot in the box. However, the goalkeeper could do nothing about David Timor’s long-range effort.

Los Pepineros conclude their campaign in 17th, four points clear of La Liga’s relegation zone, while Alaves have achieved a top-half finish at the very least and could yet move into ninth, depending on how Eibar fare against Barcelona.

Deportivo La Coruna 3-0 Las Palmas

Quique Setien failed to arrest Las Palmas’ run of defeats in his curtain call on Saturday as Deportivo La Coruna ran out easy 3-0 winners.

Florin Andone got the ball rolling when he angled a daisy-cutter across Raul Lizoain, although Davy Roef – in a rare start between Depor’s sticks – had to push away Hernan Santana’s powerful drive.

In one of the goals of the season, however, Andone powered through the islanders’ defence and chipped a finish over Lizoain.

Depor scored a third goal before half-time as Ola John’s cross from the left-hand byline was promptly put away by Carles Gil, and it could’ve got even better for them, had Andone hit the target for his hat-trick after he was away in the clear.

Roef, meanwhile, was kept on his toes by Roque Mesa’s half-volley, but Las Palmas ended the game with 10 men, Hernan booked a second time for taking out Marlos Moreno.

The Galicians end the campaign in 16th, a place worse than last season, and with six less points than their previous haul of 42.

On the other hand, a run of eight losses in their last 10 sees Las Palmas cling onto 14th – three lower than 2015-16.

Sevilla 5-0 Osasuna

A Serie A-flavoured goal fest saw Sevilla thrash Osasuna 5-0 on Saturday, in what was likely Jorge Sampaoli’s final game at Sanchez Pizjuan.

Former Sevilla goalkeeper and Italy international Salvatore Sirigu spilled a shot for an early Vitolo tap-in, before ex-Palermo playmaker Franco Vazquez finished off a cutback from the left.

Inter loanee Stevan Jovetic then sent in a rocket from just outside the box and Vazquez coolly sidefooted a defence-splitting cross at Sirigu’s far post, but the last goal fell to Vitolo, who took on the Osasuna defence and scored.

The hosts secured fourth place a fortnight ago but pick up 20 more points compared to last season, while the Pamplonans make a quick return to Segunda Division after finishing 19th.

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