It's been an eventful La Liga, as evidenced by Atletico Madrid outlasting heavily favoured Barcelona and Real Madrid and ending their 18-year drought to win the league title. Here is ESPN FC's review of the season that was.
Best game: Madrid 3-4 Barca
March's La Liga Clasico at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu was even more incident- and controversy-packed than usual. Andres Iniesta scored early for Barca, Karim Benzema knocked in two rapid goals at the other end, and Lionel Messi equalised with a stunner, all before half-time. Referee Alberto Undiano Mallenco stepped forward after the break, (correctly) sending off Sergio Ramos and awarding three penalties -- two of which Messi converted to complete his hat trick and win the game for the visitors. The result put Barca back into the title race, which seemed important at the time.
Player of the year: Thibaut Courtois, Atletico Madrid
Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Diego Costa all missed chunks of the season through injury, but in all cases their team-mates stepped up and the attacking superstars were not so badly missed. Thibaut Courtois missed just one La Liga game, when Atletico were beaten 2-0 at Almeria, with reserve goalkeeper Dani Aranzubia at fault for both goals. Courtois was just outstanding all year, keeping 20 clean sheets in his 37 La Liga appearances, and conceding only 24 times. The huge on-loan Chelsea man is still just 22 but already a superbly agile shot-stopper, fearless cross-claimer and excellent organiser of his defence. With anyone else between the posts, Atletico would not have won this season's title.
Young player of the year (21 or under): Rafinha, Celta Vigo
No youngster made a bigger impact on La Liga this season than Rafinha, who pulled the strings as Luis Enrique's Celta side finished in the top half while often playing some lovely attacking football. The 20-year-old younger brother of Bayern Munich's Thiago Alcantara scored four goals and had five assists in 32 appearances, while generally directing affairs from deep in midfield. The on-loan Barcelona starlet's nerveless display against Madrid at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in January also showed a liking for the big stage. Both he and his (until last week) Celta coach Enrique are now likely to be together at the Camp Nou next season.
Best signing: Carlos Bacca, Sevilla
Last summer's big-money signings Gareth Bale and Neymar had their moments, but were also missing for long periods of the season. But Sevilla's Carlos Bacca -- picked up for 7 million euros from Club Bruges in July -- has been consistently excellent up front for Unai Emery's side. The Colombian's total of 21 goals easily outdoes the first-season tallies of former Nervion heroes Freddie Kanoute, Luis Fabiano and Alvaro Negredo, and also included a memorable double to beat Real Madrid in La Liga and key strikes against Real Betis, Porto and Valencia on the way to winning the Europa League trophy. He now looks set to fill Radamel Falcao's boots for his national side in Brazil too.
Worst signing: Asier Illarramendi, Real Madrid
Thirty-eight million euros was always a lot of money to pay for promising but unproven Real Sociedad midfielder Asier Illarramendi, but Madrid's idea was to groom a replacement for the aging Xabi Alonso. That plan looks very shaky now, with Illarramendi having suffered the indignity of being withdrawn at half-time in three of Madrid's worst performances of the season (the home derbi defeat to Atletico in September; the Champions League scare at Borussia Dortmund; and the draw against Valencia in late April, which blew their La Liga chances). Alonso's suspension for the Champions League final gives "Illarra" a chance to redeem himself, but he has yet to show the ability to run a game needed for that role in Madrid's XI.
Best manager: Diego Simeone, Atletico Madrid
Not a difficult one, this. Diego Simeone's work at Atletico means he's not just the best manager in La Liga at the moment, but one of the very best ever. The Argentine himself pointed out after January's 0-0 draw at home to Barcelona that "there is a small difference of 400 million euros" between the budget of Atletico and that of Barca and Real Madrid. Simeone's magic has been to make that difference disappear -- in the mind of pundits, fans, opponents and most importantly his own players. His achievements in two-and-a-half seasons at the Calderon really do just beggar belief.
Biggest disappointment: Real Betis
The 2012-13 season was a blast for Real Betis: European qualification, some excellent football overseen by highly rated tactician Pepe Mel, and finishing ahead of city rivals Sevilla for the first time since 2005. Then they sold their best players last summer, sacked Mel after a poor start, were knocked out of the Europa League on penalties by (yep) their neighbours Sevilla, and were relegated after finishing bottom with just 25 points from 38 games. Now more players are set to leave, they're looking for a fourth coach in nine months, and former owner Manuel Ruiz de Lopera is trying to regain control of the verdiblanco club. So yes, 2014-14 has been disappointing for Betis.
Best moment (or funniest): Gareth Bale wins Copa del Rey
For pure drama it's hard to beat Gareth Bale's 70-yard dash -- including a detour over the sideline -- to score the winning goal in April's Copa del Rey final against Barcelona. Last summer's 100 million-euro galactico signing has had his ups and downs during his first season in Spain, but when fully fit he remains pretty much unstoppable. Barca's poor centre-back Marc Bartra complained afterwards that he would have kept up had he been 100 percent fit, but nobody believed that. Whatever happens in future for Bale in Spain, he'll always have Mestalla.
Biggest shock (or surprise/controversy): Sandro Rosell quitting Barca presidency
Sandro Rosell resigning as Barcelona president in January, after months of maintaining there was nothing strange or unusual about Neymar's transfer, was a shock whose true final impact has yet to become clear. Rosell has since disappeared completely, and replacement Josep Maria Bartomeu has admitted the full cost was over 90 million euros, but full closure on the controversy is a while away yet. A court investigation into possible fraud in the transfer continues in Madrid, while Bartomeu's position at the club still looks shaky.