La Liga Winners and Losers from Week 29: Real Madrid's Huge Win Matters Little
Following a week off for the international break, La Liga got back to business over the weekend as teams entered the final 10 matches of the season.
Real Madrid pleased their watching crowd by smashing no less than nine goals past a hapless Granada side, building confidence and cohesion with every passing goal—though Barcelona re-established a four-point lead with victory at Celta later that evening.
Those two games and the rest from Matchday 29 are looked at here to seek out the biggest winners and losers in Spain's top flight.
Winners: Both Sides in the Title Race, for Different Reasons
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Real Madrid needed confidence and a working attacking line to reignite their title challenge. Safe to say, nine goals later, they have both. But aside from a smiling-again Cristiano Ronaldo, the most important thing they can take away from the trouncing of Granada is a functioning midfield.
James Rodriguez played an hour and contributed enormously, while Luka Modric ensured they played, played, played through the middle. It was much better all around and Real looked the real deal once more—albeit against absolutely horrific opposition.
Barcelona had a totally different game at Celta Vigo.
They were second best for 45 minutes, came under a lot of pressure defensively and struggled to get the ball into the final third—but still came out with a win.
Goal difference matters not a bit in La Liga come the end of the season, so their 1-0 win was every bit as good and important as Real's 9-1.
Losers: Neither Valencia nor Villarreal Going for the Win
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One of the most intriguing matchups of the weekend saw Valencia, third, hosting Villarreal, sixth and out of form.
Los Che would have been favourites for the win, but they didn't really push their opponents. Valencia created little until the latter stages of the game and were seemingly content to see out a stalemate rather than risk a defeat.
The draw saw Valencia drop to fourth with nine games to play. Meanwhile, Villarreal have only one win in five now, leaving them closer to seventh than fifth.
Winners: Levante's Firepower Proving They Can Stay Up
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Down at the bottom where wins are at a premium and victories over fellow strugglers are crucial, teams with goalscorers tend to survive.
Levante already had David Barral in their ranks and added Kalu Uche in January in an effort to keep the Valencian club up—and this weekend's result certainly validated that move.
They were inside the relegation zone travelling to Almeria, one place above, but emerged with a hefty 4-1 victory to rise to 15th.
Barral netted a hat-trick to give his team a second win in four, leaving Levante three points above the dotted line with nine games to play.
Losers: Relegation Strugglers Elsewhere
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Obviously, Almeria suffered defeat since they were on the wrong end of that 4-1 scoreline. As a result, they took Levante's place in the drop zone.
It remains tight at the bottom, with three points separating 14th and 18th, and Granada is another two points further back in 19th following that demoralising 9-1 destruction by Real Madrid.
Elsewhere, there were no victories for the would-be relegation fodder: Eibar lost to Rayo Vallecano, Deportivo La Coruna fell at Getafe, and Elche drew with Espanyol on Monday night.
Levante's win, therefore, was all the more important. And more relegation-deciding fixtures are soon to come, with Depor hosting Cordoba on Wednesday before Almeria entertain Granada the same week that Cordoba play Elche.
Winners: Atleti and Sevilla in Top-4 Battle
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In our regular La Liga storylines column ahead of the weekend, we predicted a rise back up to third for Atletico Madrid—and that's exactly what went down, as they claimed a straightforward 2-0 win over bottom club Cordoba.
A one-point advantage has been re-established over Valencia in the race for an automatic Champions League spot for next season. But with nine games to go, there will still be further twists to come.
As for Sevilla, a fourth straight victory for them was good enough to open an eight-point gap down to sixth. And more pertinently, it brings them to within three points of Valencia in fourth.
There are plenty of matches left, and in the form they are in, the Andalusians are well-placed to take advantage if either Atleti or Valencia slip up.
Losers: Cordoba Perhaps Realising Firing Managers Isn't the Way to Success
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We have featured Cordoba before as a loser, and it's not hard to see why with their 10-match losing streak. This time out, they lost 2-0 at home to Atleti.
They are bottom of the table and eight points off the pace, and they don't look even remotely likely to survive the drop. All this comes after changing managers yet again recently, which means Cordoba is now on their third boss of the current season.
It goes to show that sustainable success in reaching the top flight can only be achieved by proper planning and luck—and then the mental strength to see through a plan and build over the mid-term, even if it comes at the cost of an initial relegation.
Cordoba were never surviving this season and never likely to challenge or spend in accordance with the other relegation candidates, yet they have been unhappy with results gained.
Life in the second tier might as well begin now, with a boss in place to bounce back and, eventually, try and stay in the top flight. But it won't be instantaneous.
