La Liga Winners and Losers from Week 18, January 9-12
Almost at the halfway stage now, La Liga's many running battles took another intriguing turn this weekend, especially at the top, with two of the top three facing each other.
With Real Madrid's long winning run now well over and inconsistency showing its head everywhere, the current longest winning streak in Spain's top flight stands at just two and belongs to none of the title-chasing teams.
Here are all our winners and losers from the latest round of games.
Winners: Barcelona, Winning the Big Title Fight
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Real Madrid made light work of Espanyol on Saturday to stretch their lead at the top to four points, but all eyes were on the Sunday battle between Barcelona, second, and Atletico Madrid, third. That's the way the two sides ended as well, as the Catalan club ran out 3-1 winners.
On a night when their attacking trio all came to life in deadly fashion, Barcelona were the better side in almost every department and certainly more clinical with their chances.
Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi impressed, but Neymar stole the show with a phenomenal performance that leaves Barca just a single point behind Real.
Losers: Atletico Madrid, Letting Aggression and Fight Take over the Aim to Play
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Atletico came into the match with Barcelona on the back of beating Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey, so they should have been confident and full of self-belief.
Their game plan would have been straightforward: cede possession but keep shape, look to counter-attack at every possibility and bully Barcelona's technical monsters wherever possible. They managed the first part no problem, but they needed a tactical shift just 20 minutes in, as they were being pulled all over the park and rarely looked like scoring for much of the game.
Atleti became too concerned with clattering into the home players and causing running fights, rather than focusing on their game plan and finding spaces between the lines in which to play. They fell short this time, and Diego Simeone won't be happy about it.
Winners: Sevilla, Taking Advantage in the Top-4 Race
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Sevilla quietly shifted themselves into fourth place at the weekend, courtesy of a less than pretty 2-0 win over Almeria, making it very much a case of job done with as little attention as possible.
Two second-half goals in quick succession gave them the win on the road—their fifth from eight away games this season—leaving them unbeaten in eight in all competitions.
Sevilla also made it two league wins in a row, the current joint-best record in the division.
Losers: Malaga, for Their Limp Home Display in a Key Game
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While Sevilla overcame less than fierce opposition, a battle for the top four was taking place at La Rosaleda, where seventh-placed Malaga hosted sixth-placed Villarreal. Ideally, both sides would have wanted to win to keep the pressure on Sevilla and Valencia above them—the latter drew 1-1 at Celta Vigo—but both eventually settled for a 1-1 draw of their own.
For Villarreal, this wasn't a disaster; they were the away team, and the draw keeps their unbeaten run going, which has now reached 13 games in all competitions—eight in La Liga.
Malaga, though, looked short of ideas, had no real attacking threat on the bench following the departure of Roque Santa Cruz and only really had a 20-minute spell in the match when they looked as though they could score.
More worryingly, there was still more than 10 minutes to go when both sides clearly settled for the point and embarked on a risk-free spell of keep-ball, rarely pushing players forward. The result leaves Malaga seventh, now five points off fourth.
Winners: Eibar and (Potentially) Rayo Vallecano
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If you hadn't heard of Eibar before this season, it wouldn't be a surprise.
Only established in their current setup in the '40s, they were in the Segunda B division (the third tier) as recently as 2006-07, and this is their first season in the top flight of Spanish football. Their stadium capacity is just 5,250, and their record transfer fee is around €150,000.
Yet, they now sit eighth in La Liga—the eighth-best team in all of Spain—after their 2-1 win over Getafe sent them up another spot, now with more victories than defeats this season. It has been a complete fairytale story, and there's still more than half of the season to go—they are the other side, with Sevilla, who have a two-game winning streak at present.
Elsewhere, Rayo Vallecano have a great opportunity to escape the mid-table crush, playing at home to relegation-zone side Cordoba on Monday. A win for Rayo would move them up to ninth.
Losers: Espanyol's Shocking Lack of Effort and Athletic Bilbao's Unwanted Run
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Espanyol's performance against Real Madrid was nothing short of dire.
Yes, they were away—to the best team in the nation, no less—but there was such a hilarious lack of effort and application on the part of Espanyol's players that it is hard to argue against them having been beaten mentally even before they stepped onto the pitch. Even when they were a couple of goals down, the tactics and interest didn't change to get themselves back into things. Nor did they when Real Madrid went down to 10 men.
They made it easy for Real, and the league leaders made them pay accordingly. It really could have been six or seven if the home team had been on top of their game.
Athletic Bilbao, meanwhile, continue to struggle to get themselves further up the league table. The disastrous start to the season might be behind them, but they've just lost a third successive match—this time at home to bottom club Elche.
The new San Mames is not the fortress they need it to be, and it's now four defeats in five for Athletic.
Winners: Elche, Closing Up the Bottom of the Table
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That 2-1 win for Elche at the new San Mames was unexpected and impressive, and it not only had the effect of moving them off the bottom of the table but also closed up the entire relegation race.
There are now just three points separating Deportivo La Coruna in 14th from bottom-club Granada.
Week 19 will see Elche face Levante in another intriguing bottom-of-the-table battle.
Losers: Getafe and Almeria, Dragged Back into the Drop Fight
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That clutch of seven sides at the bottom once again features Getafe and Almeria, with both sides defeated at the weekend.
Almeria lost 2-0 at home to Sevilla, while Getafe lost at Eibar.
Those results, coupled with Depor taking another draw—one loss in four for them now—meant a drop of one position each, with Getafe a particular worry, as they are now eight games without a win in La Liga.
In midweek, one gets the chance to hurt the other psychologically, even if not for points, when the two sides clash in the Copa del Rey.
