La Liga Results 2016: Scores and Updated Table After Sunday's Week 20 Matches
The top of the 2015/16 La Liga table remains the same after Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid all prevailed Sunday.
Atletico maintain their slim two-point lead over Barca with one more fixture left on Monday in Matchday 20. The Catalans have a game in hand, however, so they are firmly in the driver's seat in the league title race.
Down at the bottom of the table, Rayo Vallecano, Sporting Gijon and Levante all sit in the relegation zone. Levante and Sporting Gijon both lost this weekend, while Rayo gained a point in a 2-2 draw with Valencia.
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You can see the full scores from Matchday 20 and a live look at the league table below:
Matchday 20 Results
| Saturday, Jan. 16 | Sevilla | 2-1 | Malaga |
| Saturday, Jan. 16 | Celta Vigo | 4-3 | Levante |
| Saturday, Jan. 16 | Villarreal | 0-0 | Real Betis |
| Saturday, Jan. 16 | Real Sociedad | 1-1 | Deportivo La Coruna |
| Sunday, Jan. 17 | Valencia | 2-2 | Rayo Vallecano |
| Sunday, Jan. 17 | Real Madrid | 5-1 | Sporting Gijon |
| Sunday, Jan. 17 | Getafe | 3-1 | Espanyol |
| Sunday, Jan. 17 | Las Palmas | 3-0 | Atletico Madrid |
| Sunday, Jan. 17 | Barcelona | 6-0 | Athletic Bilbao |
| Monday, Jan. 18 | Eibar | - | Granada |
La Liga Table
| 1 | Atletico Madrid | 20 | 15 | 2 | 3 | +22 | 47 |
| 2 | Barcelona | 19 | 14 | 3 | 2 | +35 | 45 |
| 3 | Real Madrid | 20 | 13 | 4 | 3 | +38 | 43 |
| 4 | Villarreal | 20 | 12 | 4 | 4 | +10 | 40 |
| 5 | Celta Vigo | 20 | 10 | 4 | 6 | +2 | 34 |
| 6 | Sevilla | 20 | 9 | 5 | 6 | +6 | 32 |
| 7 | Eibar | 19 | 8 | 6 | 5 | +7 | 30 |
| 8 | Deportivo La Coruna | 20 | 6 | 10 | 4 | +3 | 28 |
| 9 | Athletic Bilbao | 20 | 8 | 4 | 8 | -1 | 28 |
| 10 | Getafe | 20 | 7 | 5 | 8 | -4 | 26 |
| 11 | Valencia | 20 | 5 | 9 | 6 | +4 | 24 |
| 12 | Malaga | 20 | 6 | 6 | 8 | -2 | 24 |
| 13 | Real Sociedad | 20 | 5 | 6 | 9 | -5 | 21 |
| 14 | Espanyol | 20 | 6 | 3 | 11 | -15 | 21 |
| 15 | Real Betis | 20 | 5 | 6 | 9 | -15 | 21 |
| 16 | Las Palmas | 20 | 4 | 6 | 10 | -11 | 18 |
| 17 | Granada | 19 | 4 | 5 | 10 | -16 | 17 |
| 18 | Rayo Vallecano | 20 | 4 | 4 | 12 | -22 | 16 |
| 19 | Sporting Gijon | 19 | 4 | 3 | 12 | -17 | 15 |
| 20 | Levante | 20 | 3 | 5 | 12 | -19 | 14 |
Sunday Recap
Real Madrid had little trouble against Sporting Gijon in a 5-1 win. Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo each recorded a brace, while Gareth Bale also got on the score sheet to give manager Zinedine Zidane his second win in charge of the club.
"I know what we can do and what we'll do in future," said Zidane after the match, per Goal's Joe Wright. "I'm just at the beginning, because what I want is to keep going for a title at the end of the season. We must continue like that."
The victory wasn't full of positives for Madrid after Bale exited through injury at the start of the second half. According to Spanish football journalist Guillem Balague, the Welsh star will undergo further evaluations to determine the severity of a muscle problem.
Real Madrid aren't lacking for attacking talent, but they have to be concerned about Bale given his calf problems earlier this year.
Atletico Madrid preserved their superb defensive record in a 3-0 win over Las Palmas. According to Squawka Football, no major European club has been as stingy as the Spanish league leaders:
The match typified manager Diego Simeone's style, as Atletico possessed the ball for 41 percent of the match, per ESPN FC. They also had just two more shots on goal (five) than their opponents. With Antoine Griezmann—a brace Sunday—continuing to be lethal in front of goal, Atleti's physical, counter-attacking approach is nearly impossible to combat.
The good news for Barcelona is they can still go to the top of the table as long as they win their game in hand.
Heading into Sunday, it looked as though La Liga's reigning champions would be pressed hard in Matchday 20 against Athletic Bilbao, but a red card for Athletic goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz in the fourth minute ended any chance of an upset.
The card was more than warranted after Iraizoz brought down Luis Suarez in the 18-yard box, and Lionel Messi slotted the penalty kick home in the seventh minute. The sequence was particularly harsh for Athletic after they nearly went ahead in the second minute, only to watch Eraso's shot sail high over the crossbar.
Suarez finished with a hat-trick, and Neymar and Ivan Rakitic rounded out the scoring for Barcelona.
The win added to what was a celebratory atmosphere inside the Camp Nou, as supporters honored Messi for earning his fifth Ballon d'Or, per the club's Twitter account:
Elsewhere in La Liga, the mood at the Estadio Mestalla is far more apprehensive after Valencia continued their winless streak under manager Gary Neville. They needed a goal from Paco Alcacer in the 88th minute just to walk away with a draw.
As Bleacher Report UK noted, Valencia have yet to show much improvement since Neville took over:
The former England international was still encouraged by his team's second-half performance, per the Press Association (via the Guardian):
"Our response in the second half and the fact that the players showed a will to fight. I have confidence in the work that we are undertaking and I agree that the results aren't what we had hoped for.
It isn't due to a lack of effort from the players. We've got a point, we will carry on working tomorrow and I'm sure that if we apply ourselves as we did in the second half we will get more points.
"
The fixture list should help Valencia get Neville his first win. A road matchup with Deportivo will be tricky, but they get Sporting Gijon, Real Betis, Espanyol and Granada in their four subsequent matches.
Sacking two managers in the same season is rarely ever a good idea, but Valencia may have a decision to make regarding Neville's future if the club continues into the end of February without a single victory since he took over in December.
