Mallorca won 3-0 and went down. Girona went home. LaLiga's cruelest night in years.

There are football nights that deserve their own name. Saturday, May 23rd, 2026 deserves one. It wasn't just a matchday. It was a nine-act opera playing out simultaneously, with the curtain falling on two clubs who gave everything and were left empty-handed. Football, every now and then, shows no mercy.

Mallorca did everything they could. And it wasn't enough.

That sentence sums up the whole cruelty of football in four words. RCD Mallorca beat Real Oviedo 3-0 at Son Moix. A thrashing. Three points. But nobody celebrated anything. Not even the goals. At Son Moix, this was one of those nights where the scoreline stopped mattering because what mattered was happening in other stadiums. The players scored and looked at the bench. The fans in the stands had their phones in their hands and their hearts in their throats. Everyone knew they needed others to slip up, and that it was completely out of their hands. When the final whistle went and the other results came in, cold arithmetic sent them down to Segunda. After winning their own match. That's what makes football so ruthless sometimes.

Mallorca had reached this final matchday after a season of bare survival. A team that spent months punching above their weight, that reached a Copa del Rey final two years ago and today returns to where this growth era began. From playing in European finals to Segunda División. Football holds no grudges, but it keeps no memories either.

Girona: hell has an address at Montilivi

If Mallorca's story is tragic, Girona's has an extra layer of bitterness. Because Girona drew 1-1 at home against Elche. One point that wasn't enough. A draw that in any other season might be a decent result, but tonight was a death sentence. Elche, who also needed something, got their point and survived. Girona, with the same point, went down to Segunda.

There's the real cruelty of tonight: four teams with 42 points or fewer battling for two spots. Osasuna with 42 and -6 goal difference survive. Levante with 42 and -14 also do. Mallorca with 42 and -10 go down. The difference between staying in La Liga and dropping to Segunda was, in the end, the goals conceded over 38 matchdays. That's what makes football so unforgiving.

The Girona that played in the Champions League two seasons ago. The Girona that was Spanish football's revelation. The one that beat Madrid at the Bernabéu and made a city dream bigger than it ever had. That Girona finishes with 41 points and -16 goal difference. When the giants fall, it hurts more, because the distance they drop is greater.

The Barcelona champions that nobody remembers tonight

In any other circumstance, Barcelona's end of season would be the big story. 29 La Liga titles. Back-to-back champions. Hansi Flick managing the most important match of the year just hours after learning of his father's death — without telling anyone, just doing his job. A story of extraordinary humanity that got lost in the noise of relegation.

Barça finished with 91 points. 30 wins, 1 draw, 4 losses, +60 goal difference. Numbers that in any other season would be the topic of conversation all summer. Tonight, however, people are talking about Mallorca and Girona. That's how football works: those who win get celebrated. Those who lose get remembered.

Griezmann, the man of 500 matches

Antoine Griezmann has played 500 matches for Atlético de Madrid. On Sunday he says goodbye at Villarreal, in what will be his 501st. After that, MLS and Orlando City. He leaves without a La Liga title. Without a Champions League. And he said it himself, with a honesty you rarely hear in modern football: "I couldn't bring a La Liga or a Champions League". And the Metropolitano responded with a ten-minute standing ovation.

Because Griezmann wasn't the player of collective titles. He was the player of moments. The one scoring in Europa League finals. The one doing a little dance after the goal. The Fortnite lad and The Simpsons shirt guy. The one who arrived as a Frenchman and left as a Red and White through and through. There are players who win everything and leave no mark. And there are players like Griezmann, who leave a mark that doesn't need trophies to survive.

Rayo Vallecano and the story nobody wrote

And while all this was happening, Rayo Vallecano were winning at Alavés and preparing for Wednesday. For Leipzig. For the Conference League final against Crystal Palace. The team from Vallecas, from Madrid's working-class neighbourhood, the red-and-white stripe, one match away from winning a European trophy.

Spanish football this season has had everything. A Barcelona that ran riot. A Madrid that fell apart and signed Mourinho to exist again. A Girona that reached heaven and came back down to earth. A Mallorca that won their match and went down anyway. A Griezmann who said goodbye without trophies and with a standing ovation. And a Rayo Vallecano in a European final.

If football were a film, nobody would believe it. Thankfully, it's real. And that makes it even more beautiful.

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