La Liga Table: Updated Standings and Latest Outlook Following Week 28 Action

Barcelona put themselves firmly in the driving seat for the La Liga title in Week 28, as they beat Real Madrid 2-1 at the Camp Nou to move four points ahead of Los Blancos at the league's summit.

Jeremy Mathieu opened the scoring on Sunday—only for Cristiano Ronaldo to equalise. But Luis Suarez's second-half winner proved enough to hand the hosts victory.

Elsewhere, defending champions Atletico Madrid beat Getafe 2-0 to keep in touch with third-placed Valencia, who downed Elche 4-0.

Here are the latest standings in La Liga after the weekend's action and the full results from Week 28:

Date	Home	Score	Away
March 20	Elche	0 - 4	Valencia
March 21	Atletico Madrid	2-0	Getafe
March 21	Rayo Vallecano	1-0	Malaga
March 21	Levante	0-1	Celta Vigo
March 21	Athletic Club	2-1	Almeria
March 21	Granada	0-0	Eibar
March 22	Deportivo la Coruna	0-0	Espanyol
March 22	Villarreal	0-2	Sevilla
March 22	Real Sociedad	3-1	Cordoba
March 22	Barcelona	2-1	Real Madrid

#	Team	Pl	W	D	L	F	A	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	9	8	11	29	31	-2	35
11	Rayo Vallecano	28	11	2	15	33	50	-17	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 La Coruna	28	6	8	14	23	44	-21	26
17	Almeria	28	6	7	15	23	42	-19	25
18	Levante	28	6	7	15	23	52	-29	25
19	Granada	28	4	11	13	18	43	-25	23
20	Cordoba	28	3	9	16	20	46	-26	18

The Title Race

Having started the season in electric fashion, Real are in danger of losing their grip on what initially looked like a certain La Liga title for Los Blancos.

They won 12 league matches on the bounce at the end of 2014, but since the turn of the year, Carlo Ancelotti's side have lost four times in La Liga while failing to perform consistently in other competitions also, per Squawka:

Barca's upturn in excellence has mirrored Real's dip in form, with 10 league wins in their last 11 games.

Sunday's win could hold the key to the title for Barca, and it came courtesy of an excellent second-half performance in which a previously dominant Real went missing, per Spanish football writer Sergi Dominguez:

With 10 games left and four points to make up on Barcelona, things are looking bleak for Real in their pursuit of the title.

Luis Enrique's men have some tough fixtures in the run-in—away to Sevilla and Atletico, at home to Valencia—but they have hit form at just the right time.

Conversely, Real seem to be in a significant slump, capable of dropping points almost anywhere.

The title race is far from over, but Barcelona are heavy favourites, and barring a significant turnaround in form from both of La Liga's top two teams, the Blaugrana will be crowned champions at the end of the season.

Relegation Battle

Cordoba look primed for the drop after a ninth consecutive league loss against Real Sociedad—they lost 3-1, as three of their players were sent off—and they sit seven points from safety.

Above them, it is set to be a close-run thing, with second-bottom Granada having picked up a point against Eibar and sitting two points behind Levante and Almeria.

Deportivo La Coruna are far from safe—they sit just a point above the drop zone—and their goalless draw with Espanyol on Sunday extended their winless run, per Fox Soccer:

Elche, Eibar and Getafe are also in danger after a poor weekend for relegation-threatened clubs, thus eight teams still have a huge amount of work to do to avoid the drop.

Assuming Cordoba's relegation, Deportivo and Eibar look to be in the most trouble form-wise, the latter just three points clear of the drop zone and winless in 10 games—a stretch that has returned just two points.

As with the title race, the relegation fight is set to go down to the wire, and wins will be priceless in the run-in considering how tight it is at the bottom.