La Liga Hangover: 1 Point to Glory at the Top; 1 Point from Doom at the Bottom

Welcome to La Liga Hangover, a weekly column running throughout the season in which we take a light-hearted, though in-depth, look at the key stories and talking points from the most recent weekend of action in Spanish football’s top flight. With a focus on the biggest teams, such as Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona, and a worthwhile nod toward the rest, we examine how the league is shaping up each week and what to look out for going forward.

 

Can All 3 Win Out?

We haven’t had a Liga Hangover column since three matchdays ago, and since then the top of the table has become absurdly congested. Just a single point separates Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid, with the Catalan outfit top on head-to-head over Atleti.

For the past two rounds of matches, though, all three sides have won their fixtures: Barcelona have rediscovered an outrageous scoring touch, netting 14 goals in two games, Atletico have won both of their extremely tough fixtures by a 1-0 scoreline and Real have been their usual inconsistent selves, hammering Villarreal before almost losing the plot against Rayo Vallecano on Saturday.

As hard as the two Madrid clubs are pushing and keeping the pressure on Barcelona, there’s nothing either of them can do to wrest the title from Luis Enrique’s team. It all hinges on whether Barcelona win their last three games: away to Betis, the derby at home to Espanyol and then away to Granada. On paper, Barca should win them all. If they do, the title is theirs by the smallest of margins.

That said, as Saturday showed, there is no room for error.

Real Madrid played first and went top. Atletico played second and went top. Barca played last and finished the day top.

All three sides are capable of winning out the rest of the Liga campaign, but somewhere, someone will drop points. For all three involved, it’s about holding their nerve, showing their quality and being ready to take advantage when a mistake occurs elsewhere.

 

Jornada 35 Results

Las Palmas 4-0 Espanyol

Rayo Vallecano 2-3 Real Madrid

Atletico Madrid 1-0 Malaga

Barcelona 6-0 Sporting Gijon

Eibar 1-1 Deportivo La Coruna

Levante 2-2 Athletic Bilbao

Sevilla 2-0 Real Betis

Getafe 2-2 Valencia

Villarreal 0-0 Real Sociedad

Celta Vigo vs. Granada, Monday 7:30 p.m. BST KO

 

Suicidal Levante Leaves 2 from 4

Levante were two minutes from a huge three points early on Sunday, beating Athletic Bilbao 2-0 heading into the final …

continue reading in source www.bleacherreport.com