Football purists around the world will be wearing a big smile after Barcelona were crowned Primera Liga champions.

It may not have been the most fitting or romantic of ways for Pep Guardiola's men to take the title, with Real Madrid's 3-2 defeat at Villarreal meaning Barca won their 19th league championship without even kicking a ball, but champions they are.

And no-one, not even the most ardent of Madridistas, could argue that this brilliant and bewitching Barca side are not the rightful owners of that crown.

Madrid, the two-time reigning champions, can take credit for their remarkable chase of Barca during the second half of the season, and without their efforts it is unlikely Guardiola's men would have needed to elevate themselves to the giddy heights they have reached to keep their arch rivals at bay.

That is to take nothing away from Barca though, and there cannot be many more deserving winners since the Primera Division was founded back in 1928, when Barca also beat Madrid to the title.

Last weekend's 3-3 draw with Villarreal in front of almost 100,000 spectators at the Nou Camp moved Barca onto 86 points for the season and they need seven more in their final three games to break the top-flight record total of 92, which was set by Madrid in the 1996/97 campaign - when they played four more matches.

The Catalans also just need to score just five more times to break the Primera Division record for goals in a season, which is currently the 107 accumulated by Madrid in 1989/90.

Plenty of other individual, club and national records are likely to belong to Guardiola`s side by the end of the season as well, including the possibility of becoming the first Spanish team to win the treble of league, cup and European Cup.

Barca now already have two of those trophies under their belts having thrashed Athletic Bilbao 4-1 in midweek to win the Copa del Rey, and later this month they will attempt the clean sweep when they face holders Manchester United in the Champions League final.

The current situation Barca find themselves in is a far cry from the uncertainty of last summer, when, after going a second successive season without winning a trophy, the team underwent a major facelift.

Out went long-serving coach Frank Rijkaard as well as a host of players such as Ronaldinho, Deco, Giovani Dos Santos, Edmilson, Lilian Thuram and Gianluca Zambrotta.

In their places came the much-coveted Sevilla duo of Dani Alves and Seydou Keita, as well as Alexander Hleb, Martin Caceres and former youth team player Gerard Pique - back after a sojourn in England with Manchester United.

The most inspired move, however, would turn out to be the one that saw Guardiola named as Rijkaard's replacement.

A former club captain and member of Barca's famous 'Dream Team' of the 1990s, Guardiola was certainly a popular choice, but with a coaching resume that only included a year with Barca's B team, there were major question marks about whether he was the right man to get the club back on track.

President Joan Laporta had no doubts, saying at the time: "In Pep we saw a person with humility, a man of conviction and with a style of play that we share."

Not even in Laporta's wildest dreams though could he have imagined just how well the local boy, who was 37 years old when he took the reins, would end up doing in his first year in the hotseat.

A goal-laden pre-season gave a hint of possible good times ahead, but Guardiola's honeymoon period seemed well and truly over by the start of September when Barca dramatically lost their way.

In successive matches, they lost to Wisla Krakow in the Champions League qualifiers, Sant Andreu in the Copa Catalunya and took just one point from their opening two Primera Division games against Numancia and Racing Santander.

That was Barca's worst start to a league campaign in 35 years, and suddenly a happy marriage looked to be on the rocks.

There was no talk of divorce though, and since that shaky spell Guardiola and Barca have not looked back.

In 54 competitive matches following their 1-1 home draw with Racing on September 13, Barca have won 41 times and lost just three.

It is the manner in which Barca have won their matches that marks them out as something special though.

Led by the prolific triumvirate of Samuel Eto'o, Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi, Barca have hit the back of the net at least five times in a single game on 10 occasions this year, including that remarkable 6-2 thrashing of Madrid at the Bernabeu a fortnight ago.

That was probably the most impressive of Barca's displays under Guardiola as a defeat in that match would have seen second-placed Madrid move to within a point of the pacesetters.

But that situation was avoided, and now two weeks later Barca have got exactly what they deserved, even though in the end they did not even have to take to the field to win their first Primera Division title since 2006.

The job is not finished yet for Barca. They have the chance to further boost their bulging trophy cabinet when they look to add to European Cup/Champions League successes in 1992 and 2006 against United on May 27 in Rome.

Even if Barca cannot claim that historic treble though, nobody will forget they way they have performed this season and the 'Dream Team' tag that Guardiola helped gain as a player could pretty soon be used to describe the side he is now coaching.