Real Sociedad’s hopes of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in a decade were dealt a blow as they could only manage a 3-3 draw at home to Real Madrid on Sunday night.

Gonzalo Higuain and Jose Maria Callejon had given Jose Mourinho’s men a 2-0 lead in his penultimate match in charge before a spirited fightback from Sociedad saw them level matters through Xabi Prieto and Antoine Griezmann. Sami Khedira then put Madrid back in front ten minutes from time, but Prieto struck again in stoppage time to at least give Sociedad a share of the spoils.

“We played a great first-half with a lot of chances, but we had a great goalkeeper in front of us,” Sociedad boss Philippe Montanier lamented afterwards in praise of Diego Lopez’s fine performance for the visitors.

And Lopez himself acknowledged how hard it had been to contain Sociedad. “Sociedad have demanded a lot from us,” he told reporters. “They are a very good offensive team that have a lot of variety, good play and the fact they needed to win to play in the Champions League did the rest.”

The Basques now trail Valencia by two points with just one game to play after Roberto Soldado’s solitary goal was enough to earn them a 1-0 win over Granada.

Elsewhere, Barcelona kept up their charge towards 100 points with a 2-0 win at Espanyol thanks to goals in either half from Alexis Sanchez and Pedro.

And all three relegation places will go down to the final day with Deportivo La Coruna, Real Zaragoza, Celta Vigo and Mallorca all still fighting to avoid the drop.

Madrid were without the injured Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso in San Sebastian, but they were gifted the perfect start on six minutes when Mikel Gonzalez gifted possession to Higuain and he strolled through to slot home his 15th league goal of the season.

Sociedad were then denied by a wonder save from Diego Lopez as he somehow turned Griezmann’s header from point-blank range behind for a corner and Griezmann and Agirretxe failed to score between them just before the break as the former prodded the ball out of the reach of Agirretxe on the stretch when his teammate would have had a simple tap in at the back post.

The home side were then stunned when Madrid doubled their lead on 57 minutes when a wonderful teasing cross from Kaka was flicked in by Callejon. However, Sociedad were given a lifeline just seven minutes later though when Khedira handled inside his own area and Prieto, who scored a hat-trick in Sociedad’s 4-3 defeat to Madrid earlier in the season, comfortably slotted the ball into the bottom corner from the resulting penalty.

Griezmann then did finally get the goal his performance deserved when he prodded home Carlos Martinez’s fine low cross 12 minutes from time. Amazingly Madrid were immediately back in front when Mesut Ozil released Khedira to dink a neat finish over the advancing Claudio Bravo. But there was on final twist as Preito struck again to give Sociedad hope of still claiming the fourth and final UEFA Champions League spot next weekend.

Barça’s century march continues
Champions Barcelona meanwhile enjoyed a much easier afternoon at neighbours Espanyol as they cruised to a 2-0 win to move within three points of Madrid’s record 100 point tally from last season. The visitors went after 14 minutes thanks to a wonderful individual goal from Alexis Sanchez as he played a one-two with David Villa and cut inside before placing a right-footed shot into the far corner.

Cesc Fabregas then hit the post as the visitors continued to boss things and David Villa should have sealed the three points when he somehow fired wide just after the restart. However, after Mubarak Wakaso had been sent-off for Espanyol, Pedro did make the game safe with a neat volleyed finish five minutes from time.

At the bottom Celta managed to keep themselves alive with a comfortable 2-0 win at Valladolid thanks to goals from Gustavo Cabral and Iago Aspas. They are now level with Zaragoza who lost 4-0 at Real Betis on 34 points with Deportivo, who were also defeated 3-1 at Malaga, currently safe on 35 points.

And Mallorca also kept themselves alive for another weekend as they drew 0-0 at Atletico Madrid, however the Islanders are now bottom on 33 point.

According to FiFa

Arjen Robben’s late goal fired Bayern Munich to UEFA Champions League glory with a 2-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund in a compelling final at Wembley.

The former Chelsea man, who missed a penalty against his old club in the final last year, found the net with just 90 seconds remaining to settle an end-to-end contest packed with drama and incident to secure a fifth European crown for the Bundesliga champions.

Bayern went ahead in the 60th minute through Mario Mandzukic after being set up by Robben, but Jurgen Klopp’s men responded soon after thanks to Ilkay Gundogan’s penalty, while goalkeepers Roman Weidenfeller and Manuel Neuer were in superb form all night.

After a tight opening spell, Dortmund were the first to settle with Robert Lewandowski forcing Neuer to tip a venomous long-range strike over the bar and the keeper called into action again soon after to deflect Jakub Blaszczykowski’s low near-post strike behind.

Bayern’s goalkeeper was worked again by Marco Reus in the 19th minute when the talented midfielder evaded the attention of Philipp Lahm and Dante to warm Neuer’s palms with a drive from outside the box, before Sven Bender’s low curled effort was gathered with relative ease.

Bayern, who tasted final defeat in 2012 and 2010, finally threatened in the 27th minute as Mandzukic’s towering header from Franck Ribery’s cross was acrobatically turned over by Weidenfeller, and Javi Martinez then escaped from his marker to glance the resulting corner narrowly over.

Weidenfeller then had to race from his line to deny Robben as the Holland international burst in behind the Dortmund defence following Thomas Muller’s incisive pass, before counterpart Neuer again demonstrated his ability to deny Lewandowski after he got in behind Jerome Boateng.

Muller was left to rue a missed opportunity from a corner when he failed to make a clean contact, before the half drew to a close with an unorthodox block from Weidenfeller as he kept out Robben’s shot with his face after Mats Hummels misjudged a long ball over the top by Dante.

The deadlock was finally broken on the hour mark as Ribery threaded a pass through the advancing Dortmund defence for Robben to run onto, with the former Chelsea man drawing Weidenfeller to the touchline before cutting the ball back across the box for Mandzukic to tap home.

But Bayern’s lead was short-lived with referee Nicola Rizzoli pointing to the spot after Dante’s clumsy lunge on Reus, allowing Gundogan to step up to send Neuer the wrong way in front of the yellow wall of Dortmund fans.

Jupp Heynckes’ side looked certain to regain the lead only to be denied by a stunning last-ditch clearance from Neven Subotic, who appeared second best to Robben but showed the commitment and desire required to clear Muller’s pass from off the toes of the Bayern man.

Lewandowski rifled a dipping volley home from long range but Rizzoli’s whistle had already been blown for handball against the striker, before David Alaba’s drive towards the top corner was fisted away by a diving Weidenfeller, with the Dortmund keeper in action once again as the 90 minutes ran down to deny Schweinsteiger.

But just when the game looked certain to go into extra time, Robben burst through the centre of the Dortmund defence to collect Ribery’s back-heel, jinked away from one tackle and Weidenfeller before rolling the ball home.

After the match, Bayern Munich hero Robben admitted winning the UEFA Champions League buried his previous demons.

He told Sky Sports: “There are so many emotions, especially where we came from last year and such a disappointment. The last four years, Bayern have been in the final three times. It needed to happen but you still have to do it.

“It is a special feeling. You cannot describe it. Everything is going through your mind. It is hard to say but you do not want to be a loser.”

And Dortmund defender Hummels admitted Bayern deserved to be crowned champions of Europe after their dramatic victory at Wembley.

He told Sky Sports: “”The game was really close, but it was kind of deserved for Bayern because they were the better team in the second half, but for us it is very hard and disappointing.

“They get the cup, we don’t. It is one of the hardest games we can lose.”

According to Skysports