La Liga Week 37 Standings & Table: Barcelona Wins 23rd Spanish League Championship; Ronaldo Nets Hat Trick

By Damon Salvadore First Posted: May 18, 2015 01:45 PM EDT

Barcelona has won the 2014-15 La Liga Championship.

Luis Enrique's club defeated the defending champions, Atletico Madrid, to win it all. Barcelona won the game 1-0 with superstar Lionel Messi scoring the only goal of the contest. That was Messi's 41st goal of the season. To defeat the defending champions to win this year's championship couldn't be more symbolic for Barcelona.

So, what does all this mean?

Barcelona is Spanish Premier Champions for the 23rd time in their franchise history. Only Real Madrid has won La Liga more, 32 times. Although Real Madrid has owned the most Spanish League titles, Barcelona has been the clear winner in recent history. Barcelona has won seven of the last 11 La Liga titles. Messi has been a member of all seven of those from start to finish and has forever engraved his name as one of the greatest players soccer players of all-time.

Barcelona's season isn't over just yet. They have advanced to the finals of the Champions League where they will take on Juventus on June 6 in Berlin, Germany. Barcelona will take on Deportivo in their final game next week, a team they defeated 4-0 in Week 19. Fortunately for Barcelona, the players strike was postponed allowing the final two weeks to be played out.

In all seven of the Messi-led Barcelona La Liga titles, Real Madrid was the runner up. Now, that is a rivalry.

Real Madrid dominated Espanyol 4-1 to pick up their 29th win of the season. Unfortunately, it didn't matter, as Barcelona was miles away, winning and celebrating. Portuguese Ballon d'Or award winner Cristiano Ronaldo recorded a hat trick, his record 26th as a member of Real Madrid. Ronaldo now has a league-leading 45 goals this season, the fourth most in La Liga history. Ronaldo's career high is 46, which he scored in the 2011-12 season.

Messi scored 50 goals in the 2011-12 season, but it would take a miracle for Ronaldo to score five goals against Getafe next week. It's been a somewhat disappointing ending for Real Madrid. Not only did they fail to win the La Liga to Barcelona yet again, but they were eliminated by Juventus in the Champions League semifinals recently. Injuries and inconstantly all played a big factor.

Without a doubt the most disappointing club this season was Atletico Madrid. The defending champions didn't exactly put up a huge fight in search of their 11th La Liga title. Atletico Madrid was never really in the running for another championship trialing both Real Madrid and Barcelona for nearly the entire season thanks to an anemic offense.

Next week Barcelona will return home to face Deportivo at the Camp Nou. The game will have absolutely no bearing on the standings whatsoever, but it will be great to see Messi, Neymar and Suarez return home to their loyal fans for the final game of the season.