Zinedine Zidane's side miss out on La Liga title despite Cristiano Ronaldo double

Cristiano Ronaldo watches his effort fly under the legs of Stipe Pletikosa to open the scoring for Real Madrid

For 22 minutes Real Madrid were winning La Liga but in the end Cristiano Ronaldo's 50th goal of the season was

not enough, neither was his 51st. Luis Suarez had scored more, Barcelona had picked up more points, and Real Madrid's spectacular comeback had just fallen short.

They were 13 points behind Barca two months ago. With an incredible run of 12 straight victories they had made the Champions sweat for their 24th title. They had made their supporters panic too, above all on minute seven of this game when Ronaldo opened the scoring in Riazor.

Gareth Bale has done more than most to power Real Madrid to the finish line in the closing stages of the season and it was his run at 40-year-old Deportivo right back Manuel Pablo that created the goal.

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Ronaldo netted his 50th and 51st goals of the season against Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday afternoon

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Portuguese Ronaldo has become the first player in history to score 50+ goals for six consecutive seasons

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Real Madrid's players trudge from the pitch after missing out on the La Liga title despite their victory

MATCH FACTS

Deportivo La Coruna (4-5-1): Pletikosa 6, Manuel Pablo 4, Arribas 6 (Pier 71), Sidnei 6, Navarro 6, Fede 6, Bergantinos 6, Mosquera 6 (Borges 76), Fajr 6 (Oriol 76), Luis Alberto 6, Lucas 6

Subs not used: Cani, Jonathan, Gutierrez, Muniz

Booked: Mosquera

Real Madrid (4-3-3): Navas 7, Carvajal 6, Pepe 6, Ramos 6, Marcelo 6, Modric 6, Casemiro 6, Kroos 6 (Isco 61), Bale 8 (Jese 76), Benzema 6, Ronaldo 8 (James 46)

Subs not used: Casilla, Varane, Kovacic, Danilo 

Goals: Ronaldo 7, 25

Booked: Kroos, Ramos, Marcelo, Modric

Referee: Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz 

He almost reached the byline and his pull-back was nudged on by Karim Benzema into the path of Ronaldo who scored at the far post. It is the sixth consecutive season Ronaldo has notched a half-century of goals but once again he gets no title medal for his incredible scoring stats.

The early strike was exactly what Zinedine Zidane had demanded – a goal to put some fear into Barcelona who were still trying to break down Granada's defence and who would need to win now that Real Madrid were ahead in their final game.

Bale took another run at Deportivo's veteran captain who is due to retire at the end of this season and again got past him with ease but this time the cross went past everyone without testing Stipe Pletikosa in Deportivo's goal.

Bale continued to make his presence felt for Real Madrid when he flattened Alejandro Arribas in the area as a Toni Kross corner came in. The Deportivo players appealed for a foul but the referee was unmoved and Ronaldo headed in to double Madrid's lead.