La Liga Table 2015: Updated Standings Following Matchday 28 Results

Sunday’s gargantuan showdown between Barcelona and Real Madrid will naturally hog a lot of the spotlight when it comes to La Liga this weekend, but there are myriad important contests for a host of sides up and down the country.

Valencia are one team enjoying a fine season, and they continued their sparkling recent form by beating Elche, 4-0, on Friday evening. Los Che are now just four points behind second-placed Los Blancos.

On Saturday, Atletico Madrid will be looking to get back to winning ways when they host an extremely inconsistent Getafe side. Another standout encounter will unfold on Sunday ahead of the Clasico, with Villarreal looking to gain a measure of domestic revenge on Sevilla after the Andalusians knocked Marcelino’s men out of the Europa League.

Keep reading for an updated look at the La Liga standings, in addition to a recap and analysis of Week 28's results.

Date	Time (GMT)	Home	Score	Away
Friday, Mar. 20	7:45 p.m.	Elche	0 - 4	Valencia
Saturday, Mar. 21	3 p.m.	Atletico Madrid	2-0	Getafe
Saturday, Mar. 21	5 p.m.	Rayo Vallecano	1-0	Malaga
Saturday, Mar. 21	7 p.m.	Levante	0-1	Celta Vigo
Saturday, Mar. 21	9 p.m.	Athletic Club	2-1	Almeria
Saturday, Mar. 21	9 p.m.	Granada	0-0	Eibar
Sunday, Mar. 22	11 a.m.	Deportivo la Coruna	0-0	Espanyol
Sunday, Mar. 22	4 p.m.	Villarreal	0-2	Sevilla
Sunday, Mar. 22	6 p.m.	Real Sociedad	3-1	Cordoba
Sunday, Mar. 22	8 p.m.	Barcelona	-	Real Madrid

Position	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Barcelona	28	22	2	4	80	17	+63	68
2	Real Madrid	28	21	1	6	78	26	+52	64
3	Valencia	28	18	6	4	52	22	+30	60
4	Atletico Madrid	28	18	5	5	53	23	+30	59
5	Sevilla	28	17	4	7	51	33	+18	55
6	Villarreal	28	14	7	7	43	26	+17	49
7	Malaga	28	13	5	10	31	31	0	44
8	Athletic Bilbao	28	11	6	11	27	33	-6	39
9	Real Sociedad	28	9	9	10	33	37	-4	36
10	Celta Vigo	28	11	2	15	33	50	-17	35
11	Rayo Vallecano	28	9	8	11	29	31	-2	35
12	Espanyol	28	9	7	12	32	37	-5	34
13	Getafe	28	8	5	15	24	39	-15	29
14	Eibar	28	7	7	14	26	38	-12	28
15	Elche	28	7	6	15	23	52	-29	27
16	Deportivo	28	6	8	14	23	44	-21	26
17	Almeria	28	6	7	15	23	52	-29	25
18	Levante	28	6	7	15	23	42	-19	25
19	Granada	28	4	11	13	18	43	-25	23
20	Cordoba	28	3	9	16	20	46	-26	18

Sunday Recap

Barcelona won Sunday's highly anticipated Clasico against Real Madrid 2-1, enlarging their lead at the top of the La Liga standings heading into the final part of the season.

The Camp Nou had prepared a fantastic tifo to celebrate the occasion, and author Sid Lowe provided us with an image:

The hosts were certainly the better side in the early stages, but while there was plenty of beautiful football to be seen, chances were few. The first real chance immediately yielded a goal, with Jeremy Mathieu heading home from close range.

Real were growing into the match, however, and following an inexplicable miss from Neymar on one end of the pitch, the subsequent counter-attack saw a fantastic team move result in a goal from Cristiano Ronaldo. Gareth Bale thought he had doubled the team's tally, but the goal was called back for an earlier offside from Ronaldo.

Sport's Samuel Marsden noticed Barcelona were reeling, but the presence of Gerard Pique was saving them so far:

The trend continued in the second half, until Luis Suarez brought down a long pass with a fantastic touch before slotting the ball past Iker Casillas. Real went in search of an equaliser, but the best chances fell to the hosts on the counter.

The Clasico traditionally shows us the best and worst sides of both teams, and Sunday's was no different. Midway through the second half, the beautiful passing display made way for a ton of cynical fouls and ludicrous play-acting. Per Bleacher Report UK, the official started losing the pedals a bit trying to contain the match:

Barcelona had several more chances to put the match away for goo,d but ultimately, the 2-1 score was enough to widen the gap at the top of the standings to four points.

Real Sociedad continued their hot streak with a 3-1 win over Cordoba, with the visitors finishing the match with eight (!) players after a crazy ending.

As shared by AS English, Cordoba's time in La Liga seems to be coming to a swift end:

Florin Andone opened the score for the visitors, who were already down to 10 men at that point. Cordoba did well to cope with the disadvantage of playing a man down, but Imanol Agirretxe managed to tie things up before half-time.

The visitors' resolve finally cracked after the break, with Gonzalo Castro and Alfred Finnbogason putting the final score on the board. Inigo Lopez saw two yellow cards in the span of a minute, and Daniel Pinillos was sent off after Finnbogason scored the Basques' third from the penalty spot.

Earlier in the day, Coke and Vittolo both found the target to gift Sevilla their third win over Villarreal in two weeks. Unai Emery remained as humble as ever, per Inside La Liga:

Villarreal now chase Sevilla by six points and appear to be out of the race for the Champions League spots, and with Malaga just five points back, the Yellow Submarine face a real battle for the final European ticket.

Espanyol and Deportivo La Coruna played out a scoreless draw, ensuring the latter remain one point above the relegation zone.  

Saturday Recap

Denis Doyle/Getty Images

Atletico Madrid followed on from their Champions League success of the past week with a comfortable 2-0 win over neighbours Getafe.

The game saw a rare start for cult figure Fernando Torres, who opened the scoring after three minutes and completed the full match.

The goal was Nando's first goal in eight years in the Spanish league, as highlighted by BBC Sport:

Tiago scored from close range just before the break, giving the La Liga champions a simple victory.

Malaga's indifferent form continued, as the team lost 1-0 away to Rayo Vallecano.

Chelsea loanee Gael Kakuta was the hero of the hour as he headed home on 22 minutes. The diminutive player's effort was captured on social media by Chelsea Vines:

The win was the home side's fourth straight success in La Liga at the Campo, according to Sky Sports, and sees the team into the top half of the division.

Marcos Angeleri received a second yellow card on 74 minutes, compounding Malaga's miserable night. 

Celta Vigo made a late show of it at Levante, as they captured a 1-0 win in the closing minutes of their tie. Charles Dias struck with just four minutes of normal time remaining, with the 30-year-old sliding the ball home to take all three points.

David Ramos/Getty Images

Levante were lacklustre and second-best on the day, duly deserving their loss. 

Atheltic Bilbao grabbed a much-needed win to remain in mid-table comfort, as they beat struggling Almeria 2-1.

Xabier Etxeita took the advantage for Racing Club after just nine minutes, with Mikel Rico Moreno doubling the lead just 17 minutes later.

But an own goal by left-back Mikel Balenziaga let Almeria back into the game, but they could not take advantage and find an equaliser.

Defender Fran Velez received his marching orders in injury time for the away side.

In the night's final match, Granada and Eibar played out an uninspiring 0-0 draw, leaving both teams at the foot of La Liga.

Friday Recap

Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images

Valencia ensured their spot in third place remains intact this weekend, as they romped to an emphatic victory over Elche.

Los Che were far too good for the relegation strugglers, as strikes from Andre Gomes, Paco Alcacer, an own goal from Enzo Roco and a late Nicolas Otamendi finish helped Nuno Santo’s side to a very impressive 4-0 win on the road.

As noted by Lee Roden of FourFourTwo, Valencia seem to be re-establishing themselves amid the elite clubs in La Liga once again:

That’s something that has been wholly apparent as they’ve reeled in reigning champions Atletico Madrid in recent weeks. And after this wonderful display, Champions League football looks to be a mere inevitability at the Mestalla come the start of the 2015/16 season.

Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images

Elche did make their more illustrious opponents work hard for the breakthrough, though. The hosts were cohesive and compact for the majority of the first half, with Valencia striving for that spark that has made them such formidable opposition in recent weeks.

Just when it looked as though Los Che were set to go in at half-time frustrated, Gomes was on hand to put them in front, reacting fastest to tuck home the rebound after Przemyslaw Tyton fumbled a cross.

As noted by Opta Jose, the midfielder is much more prolific on the road:

That goal ensured Valencia went in at the break with a spring in their step. From the referee's whistle at the start of the second half, there was much more freedom and fluidity about their play.

Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images

They were getting around the sides of a narrow Elche back-line with ease, and it was no surprise when Alcacer got on the end of a cross to prod home from close range in the 57th minute.

With the game all but won, Elche started to lose their focus. When Valencia got into a crossing position again 14 minutes later, none of their strikers even had to be on hand to apply finishing touches, as Roco inexplicably bundled the ball into his own net under minimal pressure.

As we can see here courtesy of Soccer Gods, it was a pretty comical incident:

Valencia were able to see out the remainder of the game easily, with Otamendi adding the finishing touches with a fourth in stoppage time.

Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images

This win puts Los Che four points clear of Atletico in the third spot and heaps the pressure back onto Diego Simeone's men. Not that Santo’s team will be looking over their shoulders after all; if anything, their magnificent run will have them dreaming of potentially catching Real Madrid in second place.

If Barcelona manage to win the Clasico on Sunday evening, Valencia will be just four points behind the European champions with some serious momentum behind them going into the final weeks of the season. For Valencia fans, that's a very tantalising prospect.