La Liga Hangover: Real Madrid Keep Title Race Alive, Valencia Relegation Fears
Welcome to La Liga Hangover, a weekly column running throughout the season in which we take a light-hearted, though in-depth, look at the key stories and talking points from the most recent weekend of action in Spanish football's top flight. With a focus on the biggest teams, such as Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona, and a worthwhile nod toward the rest, we examine how the league is shaping up each week and what to look out for going forward.
Stutter, or Out of Gas?
Two games in a row without a victory is the sort of season-ending streak that sparks talk of presidential elections, selling off major players, disharmony in the dressing room and sacking the manager when it happens to Real Madrid—but they were the victors of El Clasico this time out, so the headlines were the complete opposite.
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Naturally, there was a certain amount of "I told you so" from the Real players aimed at Barcelona, with Pepe pointing out many had suggested Real would concede "four or five," per Marca, while Marcelo suggested his team could still be champions of La Liga this term. Marca also went with its own brand of comparison, labelling Cristiano Ronaldo "decisive as ever" and noting Leo Messi's "disappearing act," an obvious reference to those who suggest it's Ronaldo who goes missing in big games.
On Saturday evening, there's no doubting which was the better side overall. Nor which attacking trident offered up the best combination play.
Gareth Bale was arguably the best attacker on the field, while Real's other two forwards, Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, both scored. Barcelona's three-man front line, Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, was frustrated, isolated and operating in a different way to usual, with Messi behind the other two, split wide and bogged down in the channels.
Two games is nothing in reality.
But it's also two games in the first two of four we have frequently identified as key to Barcelona's season. Villarreal, Real Madrid, Real Sociedad and Valencia. That quartet of league games is, in terms of both this season and historically, as tough as it gets for Barcelona. Halfway through, their lead at the top has been cut, and the boost for both Madrid teams to keep their pedal to the metal is obvious.
La Liga isn't over, but the question to answer now is, are Barcelona tiring as much as they looked, after a season of heavy injuries in the first half of the year and competing in six tournaments, or is this hangover from the international break that will be banished in the next few games?
Jornada 31 Results
Rayo Vallecano 2-0 Getafe
Atletico Madrid 5-1 Real Betis
Las Palmas 2-1 Valencia
Barcelona 1-2 Real Madrid
Celta Vigo 1-1 Deportivo La Coruna
Athletic Club 1-1 Granada
Malaga 1-1 Espanyol
Eibar 1-2 Villarreal
Sevilla 1-2 Real Sociedad
Levante vs. Sporting Gijon, 7:30 p.m. BST kick-off on Monday
Valencia's Panic Button
Gary Neville had long since lost much chance of turning around Valencia's season to such an extent that he was kept on beyond the summer, but in the end, even the international break proved too long to get through. The England coach was dismissed from Los Che, and Pako Ayestaran is in until the end of the season, with the board clearly panicking about the situation at the bottom.
Valencia are just three positions and six points above the relegation zone, and that buffer could be narrowed if Sporting Gijon win on Monday night.
Los Che have lost four games in succession in La Liga and, with games fast running out, have obviously identified two upcoming matches as absolutely crucial. This year is no longer about building anything whatsoever, merely surviving until the summer and getting ready to go again.
Of their seven remaining fixtures, at least three can be discounted as unlikely to yield wins given their form and mentality: Barcelona, Villarreal and Real Madrid, three of the league's top four. Sevilla present another extremely tough game but haven't yet won away, and the game is at the Mestalla, a slight positive for Valencia to cling to—though that ignores that they have won only once at home since mid-February.
Instead, Eibar and Getafe are back-to-back opponents in late April, and Ayestaran will target six points and nothing less from those games to give breathing space and banish fears of an improbable relegation.
Points of Authority
- The best winning streak in La Liga now belongs to Real Madrid, who have five consecutive victories.
- At the bottom of the table, Sporting could move out of the relegation zone with a win on Monday night. If Levante win, they'll draw level on points with Sporting, finally moving off the bottom on the head-to-head ruling.
- Only three teams who scored the first goal this weekend went on to win their matches. Las Palmas, Real Madrid and Villarreal all came from behind to take victory.
- It's one win in 11 for Eibar, one in 15 for Depor and none in 11 for Getafe. As noted above, Valencia will hope two of those teams don't break their poor streaks any time soon.
Stat Attack
- Real Sociedad scored two goals from two shots on target, while Espanyol and Athletic Bilbao both netted from their only shots of the match on target. The latter two were worth a point each, while La Real won.
- Every Primera Division team has won, drawn and lost at least once, both at home and away—with the exception of Sevilla. They haven't drawn at home or won away.
- King of creation this weekend was Getafe's Pablo Sarabia, with seven key passes to create shots on goal. Next best were Ever Banega of Sevilla and Koke of Atletico, on four.
- Five teams totalled more than 60 per cent possession at the weekend, but only one won: Las Palmas. Barca and Sevilla lost. Celta and Malaga drew.
All stats per Whoscored.com.
Good Week, Bad Week
The Good
The Vicente Calderon was briefly treated to an echo of the Fernando Torres of old in the first half on Saturday, as he ran clear to beautifully clip home Atleti's opener against Real Betis, then was involved in plenty more excellent build-up play afterward.
Las Palmas' continuing fine form has moved them up to 13th in the table, the highest-placed of this season's promoted sides ahead of Real Betis (14th) and Sporting Gijon (19th).
Villarreal's comeback win over Eibar on Sunday left them eight points clear of the nearest challenger for fourth and a UEFA Champions League berth for next season after Athletic and Celta Vigo both dropped points at home.
The Bad
Sergio Ramos' petulance and idiocy meant he offered Real Madrid little in defence at any point. He committed fouls, he was aggressive in sight of the officials and his red card should have come out an hour or more before it eventually did.
There were four red cards in total this weekend; as well as Ramos, those sent off were goalkeeper Yoel of Rayo, dismissed after just 15 minutes, Depor defender Alejandro Arribas and Real Sociedad central midfielder Markel Bergara. None of the teams reduced to 10 men lost their respective games.
Own goals this weekend came courtesy of Shkodran Mustafi and Grzegorz Krychowiak for Valencia and Sevilla respectively, and both turned out to be decisive goals in defeats.
