La Liga Winners and Losers from Week 26: Luis Suarez in Top Form, Barcelona Top
Gameweek 26 was a pivotal one in the chase for the title in Spain's top flight, with a change in leaders just two weeks before the top two meet in the biggest match of the season.
Barcelona leapfrogged Real Madrid after a contrasting weekend for the two teams, who play each other at Camp Nou on March 22. The other top-four clash, Atletico versus Valencia, ended in a 1-1 draw—La Liga is most definitely down to a two-horse race now.
We've taken a look at all 10 fixtures from the most recent matchday and assessed the overall winners and losers, judging by how the table is shaping up, how individual games went and who the stars and difference-makers on show were.
Winners: Barcelona, with Luis Suarez Proving He's Worth All £75M
1 of 6
Going into a game knowing you can go top with a win brings with it a unique set of pressures—you're no longer simply chasing the top team but trying to become it.
Barcelona took that in their stride in the Sunday sunshine to tear Rayo Vallecano apart at Camp Nou, scoring inside five minutes, finishing with six and looking every inch capable of doubling that if they so desired.
Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick to move to 30 league goals for the season and become the joint-leading scorer in the process, but this was a game run and dominated by strike partner Luis Suarez. The Uruguayan was irrepressible, running off the ball behind the defence, scrapping to win the ball back and giving the entire Rayo back line a nightmare afternoon.
Suarez scored two, missed chances for another three, won one penalty, was denied a stonewall spot-kick before that, saw a shot saved and followed up for one of Messi's goals and tried to put another few on a plate for his team-mates.
He was genius, and the best player on the pitch by a mile—and he sent Barcelona top of La Liga.
Losers: Real Madrid and Their 'Confusing' Attack
2 of 6
The opportunity for Barcelona to move top had arisen, of course, because Real Madrid lost the previous day, 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao.
Real were overrun and outfought in the first 45 minutes, and though they dominated play and possession after the break, they barely looked like scoring.
They had a few half-chances fly past the post, and Athletic certainly had to make a few vital interceptions inside their own penalty area, but by and large it was a massively disappointing showing from Real's front three, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale—who hit the post with an audacious effort late on—and Karim Benzema.
Per BBC Sport, manager Carlo Ancelotti was disappointed with his team's method of attacking:
"There is no connection, there is too much individual play. It's strange to say Madrid have a problem up front when we have scored so many goals but I think it's the truth. The front three didn't play well, but it is not just their fault, we need to attack as a team. It is quite confusing what we are doing when we are attacking at the moment.
"
The end result is Real off top spot two weeks before El Clasico.
Winners: Athletic Bilbao and the Rebirth of San Mames
3 of 6
While criticism heads the way of Real Madrid, enormous credit must go the way of Athletic Bilbao.
An exemplary first 45 minutes saw them win the ball high up the field, press like demons off it and strike as a group to create chances. Aritz Aduriz scored the goal that made the difference, but the running from Mikel Rico, the pace and hard work from Inaki Williams, the clever passing from Andoni Iraola—all of it was planned to perfection by manager Ernesto Valverde and expertly carried out by his team.
A third consecutive win for Athletic sees them up into eighth place, miles away from their horrid first half of the season.
Consistency now to the end of the year will be the aim to consolidate a top-half finish—eighth if at all possible.
Losers: Small Margins, Big Difference for Depor, Malaga, Espanyol
4 of 6
Consistency is everything in football. Pick up wins here and there and mid-table beckons, shows you the sights of what you could aim for in the top half and casts it away before your eyes when silly points dropped mean an end to hope.
For Deportivo La Coruna, Saturday meant losing out on a point or so that would have aided their fight against relegation; they lost 4-3 at home to Sevilla after a penalty, an own goal and a few other moments in the game which could have fallen either way went against them.
Malaga and Espanyol both lost 1-0 away from home in games they'll feel they could have achieved considerably more in, with a little more quality, belief and, in short, consistency.
The former are floating along toward the end of the season, marooned in seventh, while Espanyol's hopes of a top-half finish are in the balance.
Winners: Elche and Levante, Victors in the Six-Point Battles
5 of 6
Down at the bottom, it's not just consistency but any kind of win at all that makes all the difference, especially when you're facing off against direct rivals.
Elche against Almeria and Levante against Eibar were two such battles this weekend, with the two home sides coming out on top. Elche's early goal was enough to move them three places up the table to 14th and with a three-point buffer to the dotted line after a third win in their last five games.
Levante had to come from behind against the shockingly out-of-form Eibar, but their strikers made the difference and indeed can keep them up; David Barral and Kalu Uche are goalscorers who are proven in La Liga. It's not too much to suggest that the signing of Uche in January could be the big difference in Levante's fight for survival—he has three goals in six appearances since arriving.
As a result, Levante are now a single point outside the drop zone.
Losers: Almeria and Cordoba If They Fail to Win on Monday Night
6 of 6
"Cordoba: aficion de primera, equipo de primera" reads the scarf: "first (-class) support, first (-division) team."
True for this season, but only by default and luck—and not for very long at this rate. Cordoba finished seventh in La Segunda last season but made the playoffs as Barcelona B were ineligible. They somehow stumbled through and won it, taking a top-flight place as a result, but defeat on Monday night at home to Getafe will leave them seven points from safety with just 12 games left, which will be too much to come back from on a seven-game losing streak.
Almeria, meanwhile, were the massive losers in the relegation battle this weekend after they lost to Elche, dropping into the bottom three as a result because of Levante's win. Granada picked up a priceless win at home to Malaga, and the current bottom three looks as though it might be the trio which eventually goes down.
