La Liga Table 2015: Updated Standings Following Matchday 30 Results
Barcelona and Real Madrid each returned to the La Liga spotlight on Wednesday evening with victories, as they beat Almeria and Rayo Vallecano respectively.
Barca's was the easier win, the 4-0 result at the Camp Nou largely representative of the balance of play, while Real were somewhat laboured in winning 2-0 away.
Atletico Madrid beat Real Sociedad 2-0 on Tuesday night to uphold their pressing presence on the top two, climbing to within two points of rivals Real, but only temporarily.
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A midweek slate of Spanish top-flight action promises to be a sapping obstacle for some of La Liga's top teams. All the latest scores and match recaps are discussed below.
| Date | Home | Score | Away |
| Tuesday, April 7 | Atletico Madrid | 2-0 | Real Sociedad |
| Tuesday, April 7 | Eibar | 1-0 | Malaga |
| Tuesday, April 7 | Levante | 1-2 | Sevilla |
| Wednesday, April 8 | Barcelona | 4-0 | Almeria |
| Wednesday, April 8 | Deportivo La Coruna | 1-1 | Cordoba |
| Wednesday, April 8 | Granada | 1-1 | Celta Vigo |
| Wednesday, April 8 | Rayo Vallecano | 0-2 | Real Madrid |
| Thursday, April 9 | Athletic Bilbao | 1-1 | Valencia |
| Thursday, April 9 | Elche | 0-1 | Getafe |
| Thursday, April 9 | Villarreal | 0-3 | Espanyol |
| 1 | Barcelona | 30 | 24 | 2 | 4 | 85 | 17 | +68 | 74 |
| 2 | Real Madrid | 30 | 23 | 1 | 6 | 89 | 27 | +62 | 70 |
| 3 | Atletico Madrid | 30 | 20 | 5 | 5 | 57 | 23 | +34 | 65 |
| 4 | Valencia | 30 | 18 | 8 | 4 | 53 | 23 | +30 | 62 |
| 5 | Sevilla | 30 | 19 | 4 | 7 | 55 | 34 | +21 | 61 |
| 6 | Villarreal | 30 | 14 | 8 | 8 | 43 | 29 | +14 | 50 |
| 7 | Malaga | 30 | 13 | 6 | 11 | 32 | 33 | -1 | 45 |
| 8 | Athletic Club | 30 | 11 | 7 | 12 | 28 | 36 | -8 | 40 |
| 9 | Espanyol | 30 | 10 | 8 | 12 | 36 | 38 | -2 | 38 |
| 10 | Rayo Vallecano | 30 | 12 | 2 | 16 | 35 | 53 | -18 | 38 |
| 11 | Real Sociedad | 30 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 34 | 40 | -6 | 37 |
| 12 | Celta Vigo | 30 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 30 | 33 | -3 | 36 |
| 13 | Getafe | 30 | 10 | 5 | 15 | 27 | 40 | -13 | 35 |
| 14 | Eibar | 30 | 8 | 7 | 15 | 28 | 40 | -12 | 31 |
| 15 | Elche | 30 | 7 | 7 | 16 | 24 | 54 | -30 | 28 |
| 16 | Levante | 30 | 7 | 7 | 16 | 28 | 55 | -27 | 28 |
| 17 | Deportivo La Coruna | 30 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 25 | 47 | -22 | 27 |
| 18 | Almeria | 30 | 6 | 7 | 17 | 24 | 50 | -26 | 25 |
| 19 | Granada | 30 | 4 | 12 | 14 | 20 | 53 | -33 | 24 |
| 20 | Cordoba | 30 | 3 | 10 | 17 | 21 | 49 | -28 | 19 |
Thursday Recap
Valencia couldn't close the gap on La Liga's top three after a 1-1 draw at Athletic Bilbao on Thursday evening left Los Che three points adrift of Atletico Madrid.
The fourth-place side are now at risk of slipping further down the Spanish order, with Bleacher Report's Nick Dorrington suggesting that Sevilla could strip Valencia of their spot:
Far from being at their most fluent, Valencia opened the scoring after Rodrigo De Paul's 61st-minute opener at San Mames, but Nicolas Otamendi was sent off with eight minutes remaining to put the result in doubt.
That was before Aritz Aduriz rose on the 90th minute to put a gut-wrenching equaliser past the visitors, although beiN Sports' David Cartlidge agrees it may have been a deserved sharing of the spoils:
Villarreal were another side to be disappointed on Thursday after they conceded an out-of-character three goals at home en route to a 3-0 defeat against Espanyol.
As Spanish newspaper AS attests, Felipe Caicedo was in rampant form at El Madrigal, scoring two for the visitors to go along with Victor Sanchez's third and push Espanyol up to ninth in the standings:
Villarreal now haven't scored a home goal in each of their last two home outings and leaked three goals at El Madrigal for the second time this term after Valencia punished them 3-1 back in November.
Getafe followed Thursday's trend of away victories with a 1-0 win over Elche, an extremely valuable result that sees the Madrid outfit climb to 12th and 10 points above the relegation zone.
Wednesday Recap
Real Madrid were at something of a disadvantage on Wednesday, as they played later in the evening and had to respond to Barca going seven points clear at the top of the table after their Almeria victory.
Anything other than a victory for Carlo Ancelotti's men and the La Liga title race could have effectively been called in Barca's favour.
Rayo made Los Blancos work for the victory, having most of the best of the opening 45 minutes, with Real lucky to go in at the break still at 0-0, per B/R UK's Karl Matchett:
Ancelotti changed his approach at half-time, and it paid dividends. Real were denied a fairly clear penalty early in the second half as Cristiano Ronaldo was fouled in the box.
But it wasn't to be a key decision, as Ronaldo broke the deadlock on 68 minutes, heading home Dani Carvajal's well-worked cross from the right.
James Rodriguez doubled the European champions' lead six minutes later to wrap things up, but it was far from easy going for Real as they finished 2-0 winners.
Barca's was an easier day's work at the Camp Nou as they beat Almeria 4-0.
Lionel Messi opened the scoring just after the half hour, curling home delightfully from the right edge of the box after the hosts had squandered numerous earlier chances.
Luis Suarez doubled the Catalans' lead 10 minutes after the break, blasting another fine finish into the top corner with his left foot.
With the match effectively done and dusted, Marc Bartra added the third, heading home from Xavi's corner.
Suarez then finished off a quick Barca counter-attack in the 90th minute, turning home from Pedro's well-timed pass across goal, per AS:
Elsewhere on Wednesday, none of the relegation-threatened sides in action were able to pick up a crucial win.
Granada squandered a 1-0 lead in the dying minutes as Theo Bongonda's stoppage-time goal for Celta de Vigo cancelled out Robert Ibanez's early strike, Jeison Murillo having been sent off for the hosts just before half-time.
Meanwhile, it was a mixed day for Florin Andone, as he opened the scoring for Cordoba in the 55th minute before turning the ball into his own net three minutes from time to rob La Liga's bottom-placed side of victory against Deportivo La Coruna.
Tuesday Recap
Antoine Griezmann showed no sympathy for his former club on Tuesday night as the French forward featured in a star capacity against Sociedad, scoring Atleti's second to sink their guests 2-0.
Per Spanish newspaper AS, this result sealed a fifth consecutive clean sheet for Diego Simeone's side, who appear to be recapturing the dominant streak they seemed to have lost for a period:
David Moyes' visitors may have stayed within two goals of their hosts and even created what looked like the better share of scoring chances, but the clear difference here came in conversion.
In defence of La Real, however, one could say the team did well to only lose by two goals considering both were conceded in the first 10 minutes, per Soccer Gods:
Sevilla did their part to keep up the pressure on the top four, too, with a 2-1 win away at Levante, despite the hosts' attempt to summon a late fight after going 2-0 down.
Kevin Gameiro and Jose Antonio Reyes came up with the goals for the travelling party. David Cartlidge of beIN Sports had only good things to say of the latter's performance after coming into Unai Emery's lineup:
Sevilla draw level on points with Valencia in third thanks to their three-point haul, while Levante's third loss in four games see them remain in 16th.
Just above the Frogs, Eibar move up one spot into 14th after they claimed a tight 1-0 win over Malaga on Tuesday thanks to Mikel Arruabarrena's 52nd-minute strike.
