La Liga Results 2014 Week 15: Tracking Final Scores, Top Scorers for Matchday 15

Cristiano Ronaldo continued his sensational 2014-15 La Liga campaign on Friday, bagging a brace in Real Madrid's 4-1 win over Almeria. The Portugal international scored on two counter-attacks that put the nail in the hosts' coffin and took Los Blancos winning streak to an incredible 20 matches. 

Barcelona couldn't keep pace with the league leaders, battling to a 0-0 draw in a match filled with controversy against Getafe. Valencia returned to their winning ways, beating Rayo Vallecano 3-0.

Defending champions Atletico Madrid fell to Villarreal on Sunday, with Deportivo La Coruna and Elche closing out the action on Monday. The full schedule:

Date	Home	v	Away
Friday, Dec. 12	Almeria	1 - 4	Real Madrid
Saturday, Dec. 13	Getafe	0 - 0	Barcelona
Saturday, Dec. 13	Valencia	3 - 0	Rayo Vallecano
Saturday, Dec. 13	Cordoba	0 - 0	Levante
Saturday, Dec. 13	Malaga	1 - 0	Celta Vigo
Sunday, Dec. 14	Espanyol	2 - 1	Granada
Sunday, Dec. 14	Sevilla	0 - 0	Eibar
Sunday, Dec. 14	Atletico Madrid	0 - 1	Villarreal
Sunday, Dec. 14	Real Sociedad	1 - 1	Athletic Bilbao
Monday, Dec. 15	Deportivo La Coruna	1 - 0	Elche

The current La Liga standings:

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Real Madrid	15	13	0	2	55	13	42	39
2	Barcelona	15	11	2	2	36	7	29	35
3	Atletico Madrid	15	10	2	3	27	13	14	32
4	Sevilla	15	9	3	3	25	17	8	30
5	Valencia	15	8	4	3	28	13	15	28
6	Villarreal	15	8	3	4	24	14	10	27
7	Malaga	15	8	3	4	18	14	4	27
8	Celta Vigo	15	5	5	5	17	17	0	20
9	Eibar	15	5	5	5	19	21	-2	20
10	Athletic Bilbao	15	5	4	6	13	16	-3	19
11	Espanyol	15	4	5	6	17	23	-6	17
12	Rayo Vallecano	15	5	2	8	16	28	-12	17
13	Getafe	15	4	4	7	11	19	-8	16
14	Real Sociedad	15	3	5	7	16	21	-5	14
15	Levante	15	3	5	7	11	29	-18	14
16	Deportivo La Coruna	15	3	4	8	13	24	-11	13
17	Granada	15	2	6	7	9	25	-16	12
18	Cordoba	15	1	8	6	11	22	-11	11
19	Almeria	15	2	4	9	12	24	-12	10
20	Elche	15	2	4	9	12	30	-18	10

The list of La Liga's top scorers:

Position	Player	Team	Goals
1	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	25
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
6	Gareth Bale	Real Madrid	7
7	Leo Baptistao	Rayo Vallecano	6
7	Alberto Bueno	Rayo Vallecano	6
7	Jonathas	Elche	6

Monday Recap

Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

Luis Farina scored the only goal in Deportivo La Coruna's 1-0 win over Elche, a stunning strike after 22 minutes that decided an otherwise drab final fixture of Week 15.

The Galicians defended their one-goal lead with tooth and nail, running into a number of yellow cards in the second half as the match turned into an ugly affair in midfield. Fortunately, fans got to say one of the better goals of the matchday when Farina curled this spectacular effort past Przemyslaw Tyton:

"

Luis Farina's great strike https://t.co/AHfoXT3o9g"

— TRFootballAcademy (@TRftbllAcademy) December 15, 2014"

According to OptaJose, he became the first Argentine to score for the hosts in nine years:

The win sees Deportivo climb out of the relegation zone, while Elche remain dead last with just two wins and a mere 10 points after 15 matches.

Sunday Recap

Atletico Madrid suffered their first home defeat of the 2014-15 campaign on Sunday, where Villarreal left the Vicente Calderon with three points to their name following a resilient 1-0 victory.

This was only the second time in league competition that Diego Simeone's men have dropped points at home, and it the manager's former Racing Club protege Luciano Vietto who made the difference, per SPORT:

Vietto's 84th-minute winner also put the finishing touches on a result that saw Atleti fail to score at home for the first time in 2014-15, despite boasting a greater majority of chances on goal.

As OptaJose confirms, Villarreal stopper Sergio Asenjo also entered the club's history books by managing to keep a clean sheet in his Madrid setting:

Granada could have moved to within two points of Espanyol had they managed to mimic Villarreal in the earlier fixture, but a red card for defender Juan Carlos eradicated any hopes the visitors had of taking a result.

Following goals from Felipe Caicedo and Youssef El-Arabi, left-back Carlos was handed a second yellow in the 82nd minute. In the dying phases of the game, Christian Stuani rose to claim the winner.

SPORT's Samuel Marsden points out just what a prolific streak the Uruguayan is enjoying of late, but Granada will be left in dismay after missing out on what looked like a realistic point:

With Atletico falling at home, Sevilla could have moved level on points with the defending champions had they managed to dispatch Eibar, but a 0-0 stalemate leaves them two points adrift of third spot.

And like Atletico, this was the first home fixture of the La Liga campaign in which Sevilla failed to net. David Cartlidge of beIN Sports criticised Unai Emery's inability to make full use of on-loan maestro Gerard Deulofeu:

Last but by no means least on Sunday's agenda was the Basque battle between Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao, where matters finished all level after a tense 1-1 result.

It took Carlos Vela just three minutes to open the scoring for David Moyes' hosts, the Mexican international continuing a superb run of form, as WhoScored.com shows:

Athletic were left to wait until the second period for their equaliser as Oscar De Marcos swept home a magnificent Markel Susaeta. Spanish expert Graham Hunter illustrates just how long the player was given to go about his business:

However, Athletic's glee would only last so long after Aymeric Laporte was shown his second yellow of the evening with just 10 minutes remaining.

Given the stakes at hand and the context of the clash, Laporte's challenge was branded foolish by Jamie Kemp of Inside Spanish Football, although one must accept 20-year-old Laporte still has time to mature:

The draw leaves Athletic Bilbao remain sat in 10th place while La Real move up one spot into 14th, but the hosts in particular can be frustrated not to have taken more from such a golden opportunity.

Ernesto Valverde's men rode their luck late on following Laporte's sending off, but are pleased to leave their bitter rivals with a share of the spoils ahead of the winter break. Deportivo La Coruna face Elche on Monday in the last game prior to the mid-season respite.

The La Liga campaign will resume in January, where Real Madrid will hope to resume their season with the same momentum they swing heading into it, the rest of Spain's ranks merely playing catch-up at this point.

Saturday Recap 

Barcelona struggled to a goalless draw against Getafe in Saturday's first La Liga fixture, losing ground on league-leaders Real Madrid after a match filled with controversy.

Fans of the Catalans called foul when Juan Valera clearly handled the ball inside his own box, and Barcelona were not awarded a penalty. Spanish football expert Sergi Dominguez couldn't believe what he was seeing, and he didn't mince his words when judging the situation:

Incredibly enough, the handling of the ball sparked a counter-attack for Getafe, who themselves felt aggrieved when the official didn't award them a penalty for a similar offence by Dani Alves.

Replays showed the Brazil international held his arm against his body, however, making the offence far less egregious than the one Valera committed. Real Madrid fans disagreed, of course:

"

Cules blaming the ref for not giving them a penalty. Yet seem to have deleted Alves' handball from their memory. pic.twitter.com/sQX43Z6zgm

— M.A.J (@UltraSuristic) December 13, 2014"

Things got even crazier when the official blew the final whistle just as Getafe appeared to have a one-on-one chance to score against Claudio Bravo, to the despair of the hosts. Marca shared this photo of the players demanding an explanation:

Amid the chaos there was room for some football, and Lionel Messi came closest to breaking the deadlock with a near-perfect free-kick in the second half, per Bleacher Report UK:

Manager Luis Enrique insisted he was happy with how his players performed despite the disappointing result, via Marca:

Valencia bagged a routine 3-0 win over Rayo Vallecano, with Sofiane Feghouli grabbing a brace and Pablo Piatti adding a third before half-time. The hosts tried seeing the match out in comfortable fashion, but ended with 10 players after Andre Gomes ran into a second yellow card.

The win halted a streak of four consecutive matches without a victory, thrusting Valencia back into the race for the Champions League tickets.

Cordoba and Levante played out a scoreless draw, while Malaga beat Celta Vigo 1-0.

Daniel Tejedor/Associated Press

Friday Recap

Almeria fought valiantly and made life difficult on the La Liga leaders for 80 minutes, but Real Madrid's pure quality shone through when it mattered the most, as Los Blancos booked their 20th consecutive win in style, winning 4-1.

Ronaldo once again stole the headlines with a brace, overcoming slopping play in the early part of the match and scoring the two goals which put the match out of reach for the hosts. As shared by Squawka, his scoring record this season is starting to take on ridiculous proportions:

They also put his numbers in perspective, comparing the Portugal international to Barcelona's vaunted attacking trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar:

Isco gave Los Blancos the lead after a difficult start which saw Almeria take control of possession and muster a handful of chances. The Spain international cut inside before putting the ball past Ruben Martinez with a pretty curling effort.

Almeria didn't deserve to fall behind, and Verza restored with an early contender for best goal of the weekend. As shared by Bleacher Report UK, his first-time strike from long range gave Iker Casillas no chance:

Real would still go into the half-time up a goal, however, as Toni Kroos produced an excellent cross that was met by Gareth Bale. The Welshman timed his run beautifully and tucked his header nicely into the corner.

Los Blancos were lucky to continue the match with 10 players when Marcelo brought down Edgar Antonio Mendez inside the box. Already on a yellow card, the official went to his pocket, only to be convinced by Asier Illarramendi not to brandish the red. The midfielder saw a yellow of his own for his efforts.

Casillas then produced a fine save to deny Verza his second goal, via Bleacher Report UK:

Almeria continued their push forward, and Goal's Ben Hayward didn't like what he was seeing from the league leaders:

But just as it looked as if Almeria could pull the upset, Ronaldo showed everyone why he's the favourite to win this year's Ballon d'Or. Gathering the ball in midfield, he launched Karim Benzema deep and followed the ball well, putting himself in position to finish in front of an open net.

The hosts were now reeling, and Ronaldo doubled his tally minutes later, blasting home after a great cross from Dani Carvajal. The goal, via Bleacher Report UK:

As reported by AS, manager Carlo Ancelotti believed the sheer quality of his players made the difference, while aso looking ahead at the upcoming Club World Cup:

"

Almería fought a lot and we had problems, but quality came through in the end. In any case, it was a tough game.

They fought and pressed a lot, and we missed a few of our passes and weren’t relaxed in possession.

[on the CWC] Only winning it will be enough, like in any competition. But the atmosphere and timing are both good.

"

Real were far from their best on Friday, but championship teams often make the difference by winning matches on nights where they're not playing well. Deadly finishers like Ronaldo mean Los Blancos are always a threat, something Almeria can now attest to.

The hosts deserve credit for making this an entertaining fixture, but the loss means Almeria will stay close to the relegation zone. If they can continue playing at this level, they should be able to grab a lot more points in 2015, however.