Barcelona, Jose Mourinho, & Referees: 10 Lessons in La Liga

What action and controversy Round 29 of La Liga brought!

The midweek matches were full of excitement, upsets, and disappointments.

There are barely any clubs not in the middle of some sort of race—be it for the title, Europe, or survival.

Malaga and Rayo stole the show with the best match of the week, but it was the Real Madrid-Villarreal game that drew the headlines.

Some questionable calls caused a handful of Real players to be suspended, but were the players justified?

Read on to see 10 things we learned midweek in La Liga.

Top 6 Looking Clearer... Sort of

In last week's Liga review, I pointed out that there were 14 clubs fighting for six European spots.

The 14th place club was just six points back of sixth.

Well now, there are only 13 teams in the running.

Four points is all that separates Getafe from Espanyol. Progress?

At this rate, we will know who the top ten are about 30 minutes before the season's final whistle.

I still hold Atletico as the favorite to finish sixth.

Falcao had another spectacular match, adding two more goals against Bilbao to put him third in the league.

Atletico has a winnable pair of matches coming up before a very tough run to the finish.

Bilbao Continues to Stumble

You may remember me saying a few weeks ago that Bilbao would have a tough two months in La Liga.

Now Athletic Club has lost three straight league matches by a combined score of 7-2.

It is not getting any easier for the Basques. Any hopes of Champions League play hang by a thread.

The next match is their most winnable, as they host Sporting.

Bielsa will face a tough challenge against Gijon's defense and crowded midfield. If he chooses to rest his players in favor of the Schalke clash next week, he could drop even more points.

After that comes Barcelona and Sevilla, so Bilbao desperately need to come away with three points this weekend.

Valencia Inconsistent

Valencia dropped more points after yet another poor second-half outing.

At first I thought it was fatigue. Then I figured the fault was on Emery.

Now I think it is both, plus mental weakness.

Valencia surprised me last week by dominating Athletic Club in Bilbao with a clean sheet.

I thought maybe they had corrected the issues that have plagued them since January. But then Valencia lost to the worst team in the league, despite many chances and Zaragoza going down to ten men.

Now Valencia are just three points up on Levante, with the cross-town rivals coming to La Mestalla in two weeks.

Levante Will Fight...

Levante are one of the best stories in all of football this season.

The poorest club in the league is fighting for the Champions League. They have earned it, even beating Real Madrid in a Clasico-style bout.

When they fell out of the top five and dropped eight straight points last month, I thought the magical run had finally ended—losing to Malaga looked like the nail in the coffin.

But now Levante have won two straight, and look to have righted the ship.

If they qualify for the Champions League, it would be one of the best underdog stories in recent memory.

...But Malaga Will, Too

Standing in Levante's way is Malaga.

The Andalusian side is quite the opposite of Levante. While Levante can barely afford to pay its players, Malaga was just bought by Sheikh Abdullah and has a nearly endless flow of cash.

It is ironic and highly intriguing that these two clubs are battling for a single spot.

In what ended up being the match of the week, Malaga beat Rayo Vallecano.

Duda scored the team's fourth just before time to stay one goal behind Levante on differential and level on points, with Espanyol right on their heels.

The fight for fourth looks like it will be as close and exciting as any other race in the league.

Too Little, Too Late for Some

Not every race is in the top half of the table.

The fight for relegation is heating up as well.

Less than two months ago, Real Zaragoza was twelve points behind Villarreal—the first team out of relegation.

This week they had their biggest win of the season against third-place Valencia.

Now, after losing only one of its last four, The Aragonese side is within six of the Yellow Submarine, a club it beat a month ago.

To get so close this late in the season will provide hope for Zaragoza fans, but it may be false hope.

It looks like Zaragoza found stability far too late in the season. It may not finish with the worst record in league history, but it will take a miracle to avoid relegation.

Horrible Referees

A great round of Spanish football was marred by some truly awful refereeing.

In Valencia, Zaragoza's Pablo Alvarez was given a straight red for denying a scoring opportunity, despite having coverage from teammates.

Later, referee Carlos Grande gave Zaragoza a penalty after their own handball in Valencia's box (see at ~0:35).

In Malaga, Rayo were awarded a penalty within five minutes for a phantom tackle right in front of the referee.

Sebastian Fernandez also had a goal ruled offside on a two-versus-one, despite being no less than five feet behind Eliseu's pass.

The most publicized mistakes were with Villarreal and Real Madrid.

First, Villarreal had at least one penalty denied (~1:42).

Then, after Villarreal drew level, Ozil was shown a straight red card for questioning Jose Romero.

Real Madrid out of Excuses

First of all, I must give credit to Ryan Fluence for correctly predicting this result despite others—including myself—saying otherwise.

Great call, Ryan!

Despite the poor decisions in the match, Real Madrid have no excuse for dropping points.

The bad decisions went against both teams, and all of Real Madrid's red cards were preventable.

It started with Marco Senna's free kick which should have been stopped.

In typical fashion for Mourinho's Madrid, that goal caused Real to lose their composure.

Sergio Ramos went in for a silly and dangerous challenge on Nilmar before Jose earned his ticket out.

Pepe later insulted the referee, earning a two-match ban.

The result and the punishment are squarely on Real Madrid.

Title Race Back On?

Again, I have to credit Ryan, Adil, and others for saying weeks ago that the title race was far from over.

I did not believe Real would drop four points in three days.

This squad is already light due to injuries, and now their composure has cost them further. Their actions against Villarreal now leave the tired squad without Pepe, Ozil, Diarra, and Mourinho for their upcoming match against Sociedad.

Right now, Real are not playing like champions. They are playing like a weak-minded team.

With a second-straight draw given up late, Real Madrid is worried.

They are so afraid of Barcelona catching up that they are losing their focus and their control.

There is a chance that Barcelona will be just three points out by the end of the weekend—that would be a monumental collapse for Real.

With a Clasico at Camp Nou in hand, Barcelona's treble dreams may still be on.

Barcelona Hurting

If Barcelona's dreams are to be realized, the entire squad will have to step up and account for the defense—Real Madrid is not the only team that will be short of full force this weekend.

Against Mallorca, Pep Guardiola will start Martin Montoya in place of Dani Alves.

Alves received two needless yellow cards against Granada and will be forced to sit out.

That leaves Barça without its first three fullbacks.

Eric Abidal will undergo a liver transplant Monday.

Adriano will miss at least the Mallorca and Milan matches due to injury.

So this weekend may see Barça's B players on both wings, as they face a Mallorca team that has not lost in five matches.

Even though they have gotten within six points of Real Madrid, Barcelona's league and European dreams are looking slim as the defense continues to break down.

Conclusion

Were there any other points you took away from this week of play?

Feel free to comment below.

Thanks for reading and please check out my other recent works.

La Liga's All Star Starting XI.

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Serie A's All Star Starting XI.