La Liga Winners and Losers from Gameweek 15, Dec. 12-15
Gameweek 15 of La Liga produced a few unexpected results and gave a few more indications of what teams' ambitions and objectives for the season could be, some of which appear to change by the week.
We've taken a slightly wider look at the league table and recent results to bring you the real winners and losers from the most recent round of action in Spain's top flight, taking into account both scorelines and what points won (or dropped) mean in the context of the season.
Feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments section below.
Winners: Real Madrid
1 of 8
Twenty and counting—that's Real Madrid's current winning streak in all competitions after beating Almeria 4-1.
Attacking stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale one again got on the scoresheet, while Isco's return from suspension meant the injury to James Rodriguez was not keenly felt.
This latest victory was even more of a "win" because key rivals both dropped points. Real have moved four points clear at the top of La Liga as a result.
Losers: The Other Title Challengers
2 of 8
Atletico Madrid and Barcelona finished in first and second respectively last season, but both are chasing Real this term.
Luis Enrique's Barca boys failed to break down Getafe despite dominating throughout and creating a host of shooting chances—not clear ones, admittedly—and only picked up a point as a result of the 0-0 draw.
It was worse for Diego Simeone's Atleti, who lost 1-0 at home to Villarreal after conceding late on. There is now a seven-point gap between Atletico in third and their rivals Real.
Winners: The Champions League-Chasing Trio
3 of 8
There are two clear groups in the top half of La Liga: the big three, who will fight for the title, and a group of four behind them, who will battle it out for the fourth Champions League place and Europa League spots.
Sevilla have fourth at present but only drew at the weekend—allowing the other three to close the gap, as they all won.
Valencia comfortably dispatched Rayo Vallecano, Villarreal beat Atletico away and Malaga ensured Celta Vigo's recent poor form continued with a narrow win. Just three points separates Sevilla in fourth and Malaga in seventh.
Losers: Celta Vigo
4 of 8
After starting the season in such good form, there was talk that Celta Vigo had taken their level of play up a notch after the departure of manager Luis Enrique to Barcelona.
That train of thought has been stopped somewhat, considering their last victory was way back on the first day of November—ironically against Enrique's new club.
Since then, they haven't won in six, lost their last five games—including four in La Liga—and have only scored a single goal, which was a penalty. This weekend's result was a 1-0 defeat to Malaga.
Winners: Espanyol's Late Winner
5 of 8
Wins down the bottom half of La Liga are always important, but this year, the bottom seven or eight teams are so closely bunched together that a couple of games unbeaten can lift a side from the edge of the relegation zone to relative safety in mid-table.
That's what has happened to Espanyol of late; after a poor run, they have won two of their last three, beating Granada 2-1 at the weekend, thanks to an injury-time strike from Christian Stuani.
The victory moves Espanyol to 11th place, seven points above the drop zone.
Losers: Rayo Vallecano's Reliably Unreliable Defence
6 of 8
Rayo Vallecano didn't suffer the heaviest defeat of the weekend—that dubious honour goes to Almeria, who conceded more goals—but they did once again collapse in defence to suffer a 3-0 reversal at Valencia.
Games involving Rayo generally guarantee goals; they have talent in attack in Alberto Bueno and Leo Baptistao among others, but they are so horrendously open, unguarded and lax in defence that they inevitably ship shed loads of goals too.
They now have the third-worst defensive record in the league, having conceded just one goal fewer than bottom club Elche, and they have lost six of their last eight matches in all competitions.
If they sorted out the defence, they could be a solid mid-table side—but the lapses at the back mean they'll bounce around trying to stay above that clutch of teams fighting relegation for much of the season.
Winners: The Continual Improvement of the Basque Sides
7 of 8
All three Basque teams were unbeaten this weekend—in fact, they all drew.
Eibar held fourth-placed Sevilla to a 0-0 draw to move into ninth place, an incredible achievement for the tiny team, whose home stadium holds just over 5,000 spectators. They have lost just five of their 15 games in La Liga this term.
Elsewhere, the Basque derby between Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao showed the improvement of both teams over the last few weeks, with La Real taking an early lead but proving resilient enough not to collapse after conceding the equaliser, while Athletic had enough about them to overcome the setback and get themselves back into the game.
The 1-1 draw leaves Athletic in 10th and Real Sociedad in 14th.
Losers: The Defeated Side in Monday Night's Battle at the Bottom
8 of 8
One game is yet to be played in Gameweek 15, with the winners of that match (if any) taking a big step out of the bottom three and the losers remaining at the foot of La Liga.
Deportivo La Coruna and Elche were the bottom two heading into the weekend and face off at the Riazor on Monday night. Both teams have recorded just two wins all season and view this fixture as must-win.
In the event they end up drawing, both will remain in the bottom three but Almeria will be the new team at the bottom of the table.
One final note, perhaps the biggest winners of all are Cordoba—a point at the weekend took them out of the relegation zone despite the fact they have won just once all season.
