La Liga Table 2018 Week 21: Updated Standings Following Friday's Results

Athletic Bilbao and Eibar shared the spoils as they opened Week 21 of La Liga with a 1-1 draw on Friday in Basque country, where Aritz Aduriz and Kike Garcia were the respective scorers.

Los Leones could have leaped up five places to seventh with a win at San Mames, but Jose Luis Mendilibar's visitors fought back after conceding early in the second half to take a point from their short trip west.

The two teams went in scoreless at half-time, but a simple Aduriz header broke the deadlock before Kike levelled for Eibar, who temporarily move up to seventh with one point.

Eibar now sit within three points of La Liga's top six and can afford to start dreaming of European football qualification once again, extending their unbeaten streak to nine matches in succession.

Read on for a breakdown of Friday's sole La Liga result and how it impacts the Spanish top-flight standings:

La Liga Standings (Goal Difference)

1. Barcelona 54 (48)

2. Atletico Madrid 43 (20)

3. Valencia 40 (20)

4. Real Madrid 35 (21)

5. Villarreal 34 (6)

6. Sevilla 32 (-2)

7. Eibar 29 (-7)

8. Celta Vigo 28 (7)

9. Athletic Bilbao 27 (1) 

10. Getafe 27 (+5)

11. Girona 27 (0)

12. Real Betis 27 (-8)

13. Leganes 25 (-2)

14. Espanyol 24 (-9)

15. Real Sociedad 23 (-2)

16. Alaves 19 (-13)

17. Levante 18 (-12)

18. Deportivo La Coruna 16 (-22)

19. Las Palmas 14 (-31)

20. Malaga 12 (-20)

Visit the Sky Sports website for a breakdown of La Liga's standings in full.

Recap

Friday's preparations were rocked for Athletic when there was a notable absence from their team sheet in the shape of Aymeric Laporte, who has been recently linked with a move to Manchester City.

Sky Sports News confirmed the Frenchman to be missing from Friday's clash, while BBC Sport's Tom Rostance noted City have shown a willingness to meet his £57 million release clause:

Veteran Xabier Etxeita stood in for Laporte at centre-back to make his third La Liga start of the season, although mainstay Unai Nunez would be relied upon to bring his usual steel to the role as the survivor in central defence.

With his star man missing, however, Athletic manager Jose Angle Ziganda will likely have been more at ease with a draw going in at the break, although more adventure might have been expected of a side unbeaten in their last eight competitive games.

The composition of the match changed when Athletic fought against the run of play early on after the restart, and Inaki Williams' patient build-up from the right found an end product in Aduriz.

The 36-year-old Spanish stalwart picked up his ninth goal of the league campaign with an easy nod at the back post, precisely the kind of effort Marca's Euan McTear warded against offering the Athletic striker:

Eibar plugged away at their hosts, however, and eventually found an equaliser through Kike, who tapped in from short range after substitute Sabin Merino showed excellent control by tapping a ball over the top of Athletic's defence.

Kike recently scored the leveller to take a point for Eibar in their 1-1 draw against Malaga and replicated the same feat on Friday, coming to the rescue for Mendilibar's men once again.

As a result, it's Eibar and not Athletic that bump up to seventh in the standings at the beginning of Week 21, while Athletic settle for jumping three places up to ninth—for the time being.