La Liga Results 2015 Week 5: Final Scores and Updated Table After Wednesday
La Liga's pecking order underwent a tremendous transformation on Wednesday after Barcelona suffered a shock thrashing at Celta Vigo, allowing Real Madrid to reclaim their throne atop the Spanish standings.
Barca manager Luis Enrique watched as last season's Spanish champions fell 4-1 to his former club in Galicia, where Iago Aspas and Nolito were the star players for Eduardo Berizzo's upstarts.
Elsewhere, Los Blancos clinched a 2-1 win at Athletic Bilbao after Karim Benzema scored either side of a Sabin Merino equaliser, the first goal Rafa Benitez's side have conceded this season.
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Wednesday also saw Sevilla's woes continue as they suffered defeat at Las Palmas in wait of their first win of the campaign, while Villarreal got the better of Malaga with a 1-0 victory in Andalusia.
Read on for a recap of all Wednesday's results, complete with a breakdown of the latest La Liga standings.
| Celta Vigo | 4-1 | Barcelona |
| Levante | 2-2 | Eibar |
| Rayo Vallecano | 2-1 | Sporting Gijon |
| Athletic Bilbao | 1-2 | Real Madrid |
| Las Palmas | 2-0 | Sevilla |
| Malaga | 0-1 | Villarreal |
| 1 | Real Madrid | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 1 | +13 | 13 |
| 2 | Celta Vigo | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 6 | +8 | 13 |
| 3 | Villarreal | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 4 | +7 | 13 |
| 4 | Barcelona | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 6 | +3 | 12 |
| 5 | Atletico Madrid | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 2 | +7 | 12 |
| 6 | Espanyol | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 11 | -5 | 9 |
| 7 | Eibar | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 8 |
| 8 | Rayo Vallecano | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | -3 | 7 |
| 9 | Valencia | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| 10 | Sporting Gijon | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 5 |
| 11 | Real Betis | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | -4 | 5 |
| 12 | Real Sociedad | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 5 |
| 13 | Deportivo La Coruna | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 5 |
| 14 | Las Palmas | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 15 | Athletic Club | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 9 | -4 | 3 |
| 16 | Granada | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 11 | -7 | 3 |
| 17 | Getafe | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 8 | -5 | 3 |
| 18 | Levante | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 9 | -4 | 3 |
| 19 | Malaga | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 2 |
| 20 | Sevilla | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 8 | -6 | 2 |
Recap
Barcelona's first defeat of the 2015-16 season landed in disastrous fashion on Wednesday as Enrique's defence was cut to ribbons, namely by the advances of Celta Vigo pair Nolito and two-goal hero Aspas.
Oluwashina Okeleji of BBC Sport outlined this as the worst Barcelona defeat of the Enrique era, with the Blaugrana having now leaked seven goals in their last four games:
The former of those two opened the scoring with a sumptuously curled effort over the head of Barca reserve goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who was filling in for the injured Claudio Bravo.
In fairness to the German stopper, however, there was little he could do to stop such a sweetly slotted effort, but Barcelona's back four will consider themselves more accountable for Aspas' pair of counter-strikes.
Substitute John Guidetti added a fourth to the hosts' tally after rising from the bench, and centre-back Javier Mascherano could only confess to how his side were so badly wiped out, per Spanish newspaper Sport:
"They overwhelmed us in the score-line and in the play, which is most worrying thing. They won all of the individual duels. It always hurts to lose, but the best thing is to think of Saturday [against Las Palmas] and to look carefully at last season [when Barça won the treble].
It’s partly credit [to Celta] and partly our failure — there are no excuses. They deserved to win and worked well. The really worrying thing is we feel overwhelmed, which is the worst [feeling].
"
That defeat only made Real Madrid's victory at San Mames all the sweeter thanks to Benzema's brace, the Frenchman scoring for the fifth game in succession to lead Los Blancos to La Liga's summit.
It wasn't the prettiest triumph by any means, but Real Madrid TV presenter Phil Kitromilides asserted the 2-1 victory over Athletic as being a trademark win of champion material:
Had the Lions managed to build on Sabin's 67th-minute equaliser, Benitez's men may not be so chirpy, especially considering their spotless defensive record has now been tarnished.
Meanwhile, a heartbreaking start to the 2015-16 season goes on for Sevilla, who lost 2-0 to Las Palmas on Wednesday, where the Liverpool Echo's Kristian Walsh took note of another forgotten Premier League name:
The season's prospects seemed so bright for Europa League winners Sevilla this term, but Unai Emery's place at their helm could well be in danger with the club now bottom of the table after five games.
And Malaga aren't faring much better following a 1-0 defeat at home to Villarreal in midweek, with Spanish newspaper AS pointing out a worrying pattern among Andalusian teams:
Earlier on Wednesday, Rayo Vallecano took three points from 10-man Sporting Gijon thanks to goals from Roberto Trashorras and Javi Guerra either side of the half-time whistle.
Levante also managed to defend their borders and clinch a home point against Eibar, coming back from a Borja Baston brace to steal a 2-2 draw, with Morales and Deyverson bagging for the home side.
