La Liga Week 38 Schedule, Fixtures, Table & Stream: Barcelona, Lionel Messi Return Home as Spanish League Champions

By Damon Salvadore First Posted: May 22, 2015 01:03 PM EDT

Last week Barcelona defeated Atletico Madrid to clinch their 23rd Spanish League championship in franchise history. This is the first La Liga title of Luis Enrique's career with Barcelona. To defeat the defending Spanish League champions to clinch this year's championship was a thrill for Barcelona fans.

This week Barcelona returns home to the Camp Nou where they will play Deportivo. Barcelona annihilated Deportivo in Week 19 (4-0) thanks to a Lionel Messi hat trick. Messi has 41 goals this season and a league-leading 18 assists. Messi is Barcelona's best player, but Luis Suarez finished the season on an extremely high note. The Uruguayan forward has given Barcelona that extra physical edge that is needed, and his passing has far exceeded expectations.

And of course, Neymar did his part. The 23-year-old Brazilian recorded 22 goals this La Liga season on just 94 shots. Many soccer experts had their doubts on whether or not Messi, Neymar and Suarez could properly connect, but this South American triplet has been by far the single greatest soccer trio in the world.

Messi now has seven La Liga championships.

Goalkeeper Claudio Bravo was arguably the biggest reason Barcelona won it all. Bravo led the league in minutes played and games played, having not missed a single game in net. Bravo also led the league in clean sheets.

It will be interesting watching Bravo (Chile), Neymar (Brazil), and Messi (Argentina) represent their respective countries in South America's biggest soccer tournament, the Copa America this summer. Just a reminder, Suarez will not be playing because of his biting suspension from the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Barcelona has just one loss in their last 20 La Liga games.

As for their rivals, it was a disappointing end for Real Madrid. A chase for a 33rd Spanish League title will have to wait until next season. Real Madrid was in first place in the standings from Week 10 all the way through Week 25, but losses to Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona pretty much sealed the deal.

Cristiano Ronaldo has an amazing 45 goals this season. For him to break Messi's single season record, he would have to score six goals against Getafe this weekend -- a basically impossible feat. Real Madrid defeated Getafe in Week 19 (3-0) thanks to two goals from Ronaldo.

Some big questions remain for Real Madrid. Gareth Bale has been under extreme scrutiny by fans, and transfer rumors have been surrounding Mexican forward Javier Hernandez. Goalkeeper Iker Casillas isn't getting any younger as well.

Without a doubt the most disappointing team was Atletico Madrid. Atletico Madrid finished this Season 16 points behind Barcelona and 12 points behind Real Madrid. Their anemic offense scored almost half the amount of goals as Barcelona and Real Madrid this season.