La Liga Table 2017: Sunday's Week 15 Results and Updated Standings

Barcelona lead La Liga by five points after beating Villarreal at Estadio de la Ceramica on Sunday. Atletico Madrid stayed in touch after maintaining their unbeaten start to the season by winning away to Real Betis.

Athletic Bilbao moved further away from the relegation zone after earning a fine away win against Levante. Earlier in the day, Malaga moved off the bottom of the table thanks to an impressive win over Real Sociedad at Anoeta Stadium.

Here are the final scores from Sunday's matches:

• Real Sociedad 0-2 Malaga
• Real Betis 0-1 Atletico Madrid
• Levante 1-2 Athletic Bilbao
• Villarreal 0-2 Barcelona 

Here's what those results mean for the standings:

1. Barcelona: 39
2. Valencia: 34
3. Atletico Madrid: 33
4. Real Madrid: 31
5. Sevilla: 28
6. Villarreal: 21
7. Getafe: 20
8. Leganes: 20
9. Real Sociedad: 19
10. Celta Vigo: 18
11. Real Betis: 18
12. Eibar: 18
13. Athletic Bilbao: 17
14. Girona: 17
15. Levante: 16
16. Espanyol: 16
17. Deportivo La Coruna: 15
18. Alaves: 12
19. Malaga: 11
20. Las Palmas: 10

Full standings are available, per BBC Sport.

Barca's game turned on the red card shown to Dani Raba in the 60th minute. The midfielder was dismissed after a studs-first challenge on Sergio Busquets.

Playing against 10 men allowed the leaders to seize the initiative and Luis Suarez put them in front in the 72nd minute. Andrew Gaffney of Yahoo Sport UK applauded the Uruguay international's skill and cool in front of goal:

Lionel Messi provided the finishing touch in the 83rd minute to set himself apart among goalscorers, per OptaJose:

The Blaugrana have become tougher to beat this season and have the efficiency in the forward areas to get goals at key moments. It's the kind of combination titles are won with.

Saul Niguez gave Los Rojiblancos the lead on 29 minutes at the Estadio Benito Villamarin, with Gaffney summing up Betis' recent defensive woes:

Atletico held on for a vital win and three points to take them back above local rivals and champions Real Madrid. In the process, manager Diego Simeone's team also earned a piece of club history:

More important, Atleti remain in touch in the title race.

Aritz Aduriz put Athletic in front from the penalty spot after just five minutes in Levante. The goal meant a moment of history for the evergreen striker:

Two own goals in the space of six minutes—one by Athletic centre-back Aymeric Laporte, and the other from Sergio Postigo—finished the scoring and settled the match in the visitors' favour.

Athletic jumped up four places thanks to this key win.

A Borja Baston penalty and a goal from Gonzalo Castro were enough to move Malaga off the bottom. They are still in trouble in 19th place, but they have cut the gap to safety to three points.

Things aren't quite as close at the top, where Barca are beginning to create a sizeable advantage in the race for the title.