Barcelona wins in Lewandowski’s farewell. Sevilla avoids relegation despite loss to Real Madrid

MADRID (AP) — Spanish champion Barcelona capped a perfect season at home — 19 wins in 19 La Liga matches — with a 3-1 victory over Real Betis on Sunday as Robert Lewandowski bid an emotional farewell to Camp Nou.

Barcelona announced Saturday that the 37-year-old Lewandowski was leaving after four seasons.

Antoine Griezmann also said goodbye to Atletico Madrid’s fans at the Metropolitano stadium before he moves to the United States to play in Major League Soccer. Atletico beat Girona 1-0.

Two goals by Raphinha and one by João Cancelo kept Barcelona perfect at home in the Spanish league. The Catalan club had already clinched its second straight league title two rounds ago.

There is one round of matches left.

Lewandowski helped Barcelona win three Spanish league titles in four seasons, including this campaign, and one Copa del Rey, while scoring an impressive 119 goals in 192 appearances.

It was an emotional farewell for the Poland striker, who after the match was thrown into the air by his teammates. They also lined up and applauded Lewandowski as he went toward the locker room.

“It has been an honor to play for this club,” Lewandowski said. “We’ve enjoyed some great moments in these four years. I am very proud of everything we have achieved together. Today I say goodbye, but I will always carry Barcelona in my heart. Thank you so much, fans. Once a Barça fan, always a Barça fan.”

Griezmann’s goodbye

Griezmann is Atletico’s all-time leading scorer.

The French forward apologized again to fans on Sunday for having left Atletico to play for rival Barcelona.

“I didn’t realize how much I loved you here. I was very young. I made a mistake, I reconsidered, and we did everything we could to come back and enjoy it again,” he said.

Atletico coach Diego Simeone praised the 35-year-old Griezmann.

“Griezmann is possibly the best one to have ever played here,” Simeone said. “He’s an extraordinary guy, a genius. He’s the most game-changing player that we’ve coached here.”

Mbappé starts, Sevilla loses but survives

Sevilla avoided relegation despite a 1-0 loss to Real Madrid at home.

Vinícius Júnior scored for Madrid, which had already sealed second place.

Kylian Mbappé started for Madrid three days after saying coach Álvaro Arbeloa had made him the team’s fourth-choice striker. He came off the bench in the win at Oviedo on Thursday in what was his return from an injury layoff.

It was a tight relegation fight coming into Sunday’s matches and Sevilla secured its salvation thanks to other results. Alaves also guaranteed more top-tier soccer next season with a 1-0 win at already relegated Oviedo.

Five teams will enter next weekend’s final round looking to avoid the drop: Levante, Osasuna, Elche, Girona and Mallorca.

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Levante moved closer to safety with a 2-0 win over Mallorca and is 15th with 42 points, the same number of points as 16th-place Osasuna and 17th-place Elche.

Osasuna lost 2-1 to Espanyol at home, while Elche beat 10-man Getafe 1-0.

Inside the relegation zone are 17th-place Girona (40 points), second-to-last Mallorca (39) and Oviedo (29).

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer