La Liga Results 2014 Week 14: Tracking Final Scores, Top Scorers for Matchday 14
Cristiano Ronaldo just can't stop scoring, as the Real Madrid forward bagged another hat-trick on Saturday to give his team a 3-0 win over Celta Vigo.
The Portuguese star has now scored an incredible 23 goals in just 14 matches, and that's not counting the time he missed earlier in the season while recovering from injury.
Defending champions Atletico Madrid kept pace with their city rivals by beating Elche 2-0, while Cordoba shocked Athletic Bilbao, beating the Basques 1-0. The full schedule for Week 14 of the 2014-15 La Liga season:
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| Saturday, Dec. 6 | Elche | 0 - 2 | Atletico Madrid |
| Saturday, Dec. 6 | Athletic Bilbao | 0 - 1 | Cordoba |
| Saturday, Dec. 6 | Real Madrid | 3 - 0 | Celta Vigo |
| Saturday, Dec. 6 | Deportivo La Coruna | 0 - 1 | Malaga |
| Sunday, Dec. 7 | Rayo Vallecano | 0 - 1 | Sevilla |
| Sunday, Dec. 7 | Barcelona | 5 - 1 | Espanyol |
| Sunday, Dec. 7 | Villarreal | 4 - 0 | Real Sociedad |
| Sunday, Dec. 7 | Granada | 1 - 1 | Valencia |
| Monday, Dec. 8 | Eibar | 5 - 2 | Almeria |
| Monday, Dec. 8 | Levante | 1 - 1 | Getafe |
The current La Liga standings:
| 1 | Real Madrid | 14 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 51 | 12 | +39 | 36 |
| 2 | Barcelona | 14 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 36 | 7 | +29 | 34 |
| 3 | Atletico Madrid | 14 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 27 | 12 | +15 | 32 |
| 4 | Sevilla | 14 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 25 | 17 | +8 | 29 |
| 5 | Valencia | 14 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 25 | 13 | +12 | 25 |
| 6 | Malaga | 14 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 17 | 14 | +3 | 24 |
| 7 | Villarreal | 14 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 23 | 14 | +9 | 24 |
| 8 | Celta Vigo | 14 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 17 | 16 | +1 | 20 |
| 9 | Eibar | 14 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 19 | 21 | -2 | 19 |
| 10 | Athletic Club | 14 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 12 | 15 | -3 | 18 |
| 11 | Rayo Vallecano | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 16 | 25 | -9 | 17 |
| 12 | Getafe | 14 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 11 | 19 | -8 | 15 |
| 13 | Espanyol | 14 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 15 | 22 | -7 | 14 |
| 14 | Levante | 14 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 29 | -18 | 13 |
| 15 | Real Sociedad | 14 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 15 | 20 | -5 | 13 |
| 16 | Granada | 14 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 23 | -15 | 12 |
| 17 | Almeria | 14 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 11 | 20 | -9 | 10 |
| 18 | Cordoba | 14 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 22 | -11 | 10 |
| 19 | Elche | 14 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 29 | -17 | 10 |
| 20 | Deportivo La Coruna | 14 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 24 | -12 | 10 |
The updated La Liga top scorers' list:
| 1 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid | 23 |
| 2 | Lionel Messi | Barcelona | 13 |
| 3 | Neymar | Barcelona | 11 |
| 4 | Carlos Bacca | Sevilla | 10 |
| 5 | Karim Benzema | Real Madrid | 8 |
| 6 | Joaquin Larrivey | Celta Vigo | 7 |
| 7 | Leo Baptistao | Rayo Vallecano | 6 |
| 7 | Alberto Bueno | Rayo Vallecano | 6 |
| 7 | Jonathas | Elche | 6 |
| 7 | Gareth Bale | Real Madrid | 6 |
Monday Update
Eibar routed Almeria 5-2 in Monday's early kick-off to push their way back into the top half of La Liga's standings, with Gaizka Garitano assured to see five different players net for the hosts.
It's the first time this season that Los Armeros have managed to bag more than three goals, a result which sees Almeria fail to move off their 10-point haul, level with bottom side Deportivo La Coruna.
Fernando Soriano pulled one back for the relegation-threatened visitors just before half-time, but the deficit proved too great for Almeria, who slipped to 5-1 down before Edgar registered their second late on.
In the evening clash, Levante and Getafe saw out a tight encounter and failed to produce a winner after drawing 1-1 in Valencia, where Yoda opened the scoring 11 minutes into the second period. The Daily Mail's Rik Sharma praised the Getafe midfielder's strike:
Just 15 minutes later, Rafael Martins hit back to level for the home outfit, a draw which sees Lucas Alcaraz's outfit stay two points off their bottom-half rivals.
Sunday Update
Lionel Messi matched Cristiano Ronaldo's hat-trick on Sunday, scoring three times in Barcelona's 5-1 derby win over Espanyol. As shared by Transfer Centre, the Argentina international continued his exceptional form with another dominant performance:
Sergio Garcia gave Espanyol a shock lead early, and for the bulk of the first half, the Blaugrana were powerless to strike back. Messi hit the woodwork with a fantastic free-kick, but luck appeared to be on the side of the visitors.
A brilliant strike from distance finally gave the hosts the equaliser just before half-time, however. The Vine is shared by Barcastuff:
"Gif: Goal Messi (1-1) pic.twitter.com/wTcjsfDDQQ [via @emenderk]
— barcastuff (@barcastuff) December 7, 2014"
The goal saw Barcelona start the second half with renewed energy, and Messi quickly doubled his tally, nutmegging a defender before finishing with his right foot.
Gerard Pique made it 3-1 with a powerful header off a corner kick, and Espanyol gave up defending altogether after that, allowing Pedro to nab one of the easiest goals of his career, per Bleacher Report UK:
The Blaugrana weren't done yet, and Messi completed his hat-trick by putting the 5-1 final score on the board.
Speaking after the match, Luis Enrique commented on Real Madrid's decision to ban 17 fans who started a series of chants aimed at the pint-sized forward, via Inside Spanish Football's Tom Conn:
"Only 17? (Smiles) I think that’s very good. I think any antiviolence measures are good. We welcome anything related to antiviolence, however, if we kick out everyone who shouts something insulting, we’re going to be left by ourselves, that’s including the players. I don’t think it’s exaggerated, but I don’t know where we draw the line. There are insults thrown around in every stadium in Spain. We’re going to control what we can possibly control, like acts of violence, but we’re very good at showing the passion we have for our teams. I feel it’s a bit Utopian what they’re trying to achieve.
"
David Moyes suffered his first defeat as the new manager of Real Sociedad, a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Villarreal. Given his pre-match quotes in which he showed the world he had learned how to count to four in Spanish, that score didn't go over well with social media.
Spanish football expert Sergi Dominguez kept it simple:
Enaut Zubikarai gave the Yellow Submarine the lead with an unfortunate own goal, and the Basques lost all focus in the final 20 minutes, conceding three more.
Goal's Ben Hayward believes Moyes even got lucky:
Carlos Bacca scored the only goal in Sevilla's 1-0 win over Rayo Vallecano; while Valencia and Granada battled out one of the most exciting and controversial matches of the La Liga season, ending in a 1-1 draw.
The visiting fans were furious with the official for a series of odd decisions when Alvaro Negredo finally gave Valencia the lead, but a straight red card for Paco Alcacer gave Granada hope.
Alcacer appeared to be hit in the face by Juan Carlos before pulling his man down, and in the confusion that followed, the official must have seen a punch of sorts, as he sent the youngster packing. Minutes later, Isaac Success capitalised on a poor punch-out from Diego Alves, blasting home the equaliser from close range.
Saturday Recap
Real Madrid continued their winning ways with another comfortable 3-0 win over Celta Vigo on Saturday. Los Blancos struggled breaking down the Galicians' defence early before Ronaldo opened the score from the penalty spot, and from that point on, it was smooth sailing.
The opening goal came with an air of controversy surrounding it, however. Ronaldo felt contact at the edge of the box and took two more steps before blatantly diving, and to the horror of Vigo, the official fell for it.
The Score shared the Vine of the incident:
Even AS, one of Spain's most pro-Madrid newspapers, didn't try and hide the fact the penalty came as the result of a dive:
Ronaldo converted the spot-kick himself, giving the hosts a deserved lead.
Los Blancos easily controlled the ball in the second half and scored two more goals after excellent counter-attacks. The last one gave Ronaldo 200 La Liga goals in just 178 matches while completing his 23rd hat-trick, according to Bleacher Report UK:
According to ESPN Stats & Info, no one has ever done it quicker:
Jose Gimenez and Mario Mandzukic gave defending champions Atletico Madrid a 2-0 win at Elche, temporarily hopping over Barcelona in the La Liga standings.
Manager Diego Simeone believes his squad are growing into the season, according to Football Espana:
"The team have played differently for several matches and are growing.
It's no coincidence that Mandzukic has had many chances, the team are doing well. On Tuesday there's a big game [against Juventus].
The talents we have make a great effort to continue competing. I made 10 changes and we still competed. That's good for Atletico Madrid.
I have 21 players at my disposal, and the starters [I pick] are the consequence of what the matches ask me.
It's great for everyone [to just talk about the football again].
"
Nabil Ghilas scored the only goal in Cordoba's shock 1-0 win over Athletic Bilbao, winning their first official La Liga match in more than 42 years, per OptaJose:
Malaga beat Deportivo La Coruna 1-0 thanks to a first-half goal from Sergi Darder, a superb blast from long range that came 10 minutes after Carlos Kameni stopped a penalty from Ivan Cavaleiro.
Barcelona and Espanyol will contest the first chapter in this year's Derbi Barceloni on Sunday, while Sevilla face a tricky match at Rayo Vallecano and Villarreal will host David Moyes' Real Sociedad squad.
