La Liga Results 2017 Week 21: Final Scores and Updated Table After Saturday

Barcelona temporarily closed the gap on La Liga leaders Real Madrid to a single point on Saturday, after goals from Paco Alcacer, Lionel Messi and Aleix Vidal saw them clinch a 3-0 victory over Athletic Bilbao at the Camp Nou.

Los Merengues still boast two games in hand over the Blaugrana. But manager Luis Enrique's side can afford to dream of a title challenge, after Saturday's win maintained a glittering run of form.

A Fernando Torres brace also allowed Atletico Madrid to stay within arm's reach of the top three with a 2-0 win against Leganes, while Malaga manager Marcelo Romero's search for a first league win endured after a 1-0 loss at home to Espanyol.

Valencia's terrible run continued, too, after 10-man Los Che suffered an embarrassing 4-0 defeat at home to Eibar. There, Sergi Enrich bagged a double, and Adrian Gonzalez and Dani Garcia also supplied goals.

Read on for a breakdown of Saturday's results from the Spanish top flight, complete with a look at La Liga's standings following Week 21's opening scores.

Home	Score	Away
Barcelona	3-0	Athletic Bilbao
Atletico Madrid	2-0	Leganes
Valencia	0-4	Eibar
Malaga	0-1	Espanyol

R	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Real Madrid	19	14	4	1	51	17	+34	46
2	Barcelona	21	13	6	2	55	18	+37	45
3	Sevilla	20	13	3	4	43	28	+15	42
4	Atletico Madrid	21	11	6	4	36	16	+20	39
5	Real Sociedad	20	11	2	7	31	28	+3	35
6	Villarreal	20	9	7	4	28	14	+14	34
7	Athletic Club	21	9	5	7	26	25	+1	32
8	Espanyol	21	8	8	5	29	27	+2	32
9	Eibar	21	9	5	7	32	29	+3	32
10	Celta Vigo	20	9	3	8	31	33	-2	30
11	Las Palmas	20	7	7	6	31	31	0	28
12	Alaves	20	5	9	6	17	20	-3	24
13	Real Betis	20	6	5	9	21	31	-10	23
14	Malaga	21	5	7	9	28	35	-7	22
15	Valencia	20	5	4	11	29	40	-11	19
16	Deportivo La Coruna	20	4	7	9	25	32	-7	19
17	Leganes	21	4	6	11	15	35	-20	18
18	Sporting Gijon	20	3	4	13	20	39	-19	13
19	Osasuna	20	1	7	12	21	43	-22	10
20	Granada	20	1	7	12	16	44	-28	10

Recap

Luis Suarez was handed a rest for Barcelona's home duel against Athletic, and Alcacer capitalised with his first league goal for the club five months after joining from Valencia.

The striker's breakthrough goal was long overdue and helped set Barca on their way to a convincing win against Los Leones—it broke a scoring duck in the Spanish top flight for Alcacer that stretched back to April 2016, too:

Messi then caught Athletic goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz off guard with a well-struck free-kick from a tight angle, continuing the inspirational run of set-piece strikes he's come upon so far in 2017.

Former Barcelona outcast Vidal also contributed to the scoreline and slotted home a milestone effort for the Camp Nou hosts after squirming his way across the edge of the visitors' area and lashing in a left-footed strike:

Atletico may no longer have realistic aspirations to challenge for this season's Spanish league crown, but manager Diego Simeone saw his side remain within three points of Sevilla following a 2-0 win against Leganes.

It took Torres 15 minutes to open Atleti's account at the Vicente Calderon, and Sky Sports Statto celebrated the Spaniard's landmark achievement after grabbing a second on the 51-minute mark:

After enjoying an impressive spell of form under Juande Ramos leading up to the winter break, Malaga's dismal run under new boss Romero continued with a 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Espanyol.

Pablo Piatti—on loan from Valencia—scored the fixture's only goal after just 17 minutes, encouraging praise from Yahoo's Andrew Gaffney:

Barca's hammering of Athletic wasn't the only one-sided result of the day, either. Enrich slotted two past Valencia, who suffered their second consecutive defeat and their first home loss since October.

Carlos Soler was shown a controversial straight red card for slapping an opponent in the face inside the box. Gonzalez converted the resulting spot-kick shortly before Garcia volleyed home a sensational third for the guests.