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La Liga Results 2019 Week 29: Final Scores and Updated Table After Saturday
March 30, 2019
Lionel Messi bagged a brace for Barcelona on Saturday at the Camp Nou as the league leaders beat Espanyol 2-0.
Atletico Madrid remain 10 points behind Ernesto Valverde's side after an impressive 4-0 win over Alaves.
Elsewhere, Celta Vigo came from 2-0 down to beat Villarreal 3-2 in a crucial game at the bottom of the table. The win moves Celta to just a point and a place behind the Yellow Submarine in 17th place.
Saturday's other La Liga fixture saw high-flying Getafe suffer a surprise home defeat to Leganes.
La Liga Results
Getafe 0-2 Leganes
Barcelona 2-0 Espanyol
Celta Vigo 3-2 Villarreal
Alaves 0-4 Atletico Madrid
La Liga Standings (Games Played, Points, Goal Difference)
1. Barcelona: 29, 69, +48
2. Atletico Madrid: 29, 59, +24
3. Real Madrid: 28, 54, +17
4. Getafe: 29, 46, +10
5. Alaves: 29, 44, -4
6. Sevilla: 28, 43, +11
7. Valencia: 28, 40, +7
8. Athletic Bilbao: 29, 40, -2
9. Real Betis: 28, 39, -4
10. Real Sociedad: 28, 36, 0
11. Leganes: 29, 36, -5
12. Eibar: 28, 35, -2
13. Girona: 29, 34, -7
14. Espanyol: 29, 34, -11
15. Levante: 28, 31, -11
16. Real Valladolid: 28, 29, -16
17. Villarreal: 29, 29, -5
18. Celta Vigo: 29, 28, -10
19. Rayo Vallecano: 28, 23, -21
20. Huesca: 28, 22, -19
Saturday Recap
Messi started for Barcelona after missing Argentina's friendly against Morocco on Tuesday with a groin injury and inspired the champions to victory over their local rivals.
The hosts had dominated the game but struggled to carve out many clear chances until Messi finally broke the deadlock after 71 minutes.
The Barcelona captain chipped a free-kick over goalkeeper Diego Lopez from just outside the penalty area for his 40th goal of the season in all competitions:
Messi then sealed the victory with his second goal of the match in the 89th minute. Substitute Malcom raced down the left and crossed for Messi to sweep past Lopez.
Atletico kept their slim title hopes alive with victory at the Mendizorrotza Stadium.
The visitors needed just five minutes to get on the scoresheet, with Saul Niguez picking up Antoine Griezmann's pass and firing a shot through goalkeeper Fernando Pacheco's legs:
Atletico then doubled their lead in sensational style on 11 minutes. Diego Costa curled home a brilliant effort from outside the penalty area that gave Pacheco no chance.
However, it was not all good news for Costa. The striker was withdrawn at half-time because of injury:
Atletico were forced to withstand some serious pressure at the start of the second half, before extending their lead just before the hour mark.
Alvaro Morata was sent running through on goal by Thomas Lemar and made no mistake with a confident finish for his fourth La Liga goal of the season:
Griezmann went close with an effort that Pacheco touched on to the woodwork, before Thomas Partey smashed Atletico's fourth into the top corner to finish off Alaves.
Villarreal looked set to pull clear of the relegation zone but were stunned by a second-half comeback from Celta Vigo that keeps them deep in trouble.
Early goals from Karl Toko Ekambi and Alfonso Pedraza had put the visitors in charge at Balaidos and on course for a fifth straight win in all competitions.
However, Celta produced a stirring response to give their hopes of escaping the drop a boost. Iago Aspas gave the hosts hope by pulling one back five minutes into the second half.
Maxi Gomez headed an equaliser on 71 minutes, before Aspas sealed a memorable win from the penalty spot with four minutes of normal time remaining:
Celta will now look to climb out of the relegation zone in the next round of fixtures. The Galicians take on bottom-side Huesca, while Villarreal face a tough test against La Liga leaders Barcelona.