Ladies & Gentlemen, the chase for the title of Spanish La Liga champion just got more interesting. Round 33 came quickly after Round 32 featured midweek matches. Round 33 was a dream for Real Madrid fans as Barcelona finally dropped points to make Los Merengues chances for a 32nd La Liga title a strong possibility. Barcelona needed an 86th minute goal from Thierry Henry to equalize 2-2 on the road against Valencia. The draw ended Barca’s 7 game winning streak and allowed Real to close to within 4 points of their lead.

Real Madrid got a hat trick by their icon, Raúl to beat Sevilla 4-2 on the road. The win extended Real’s amazing run under Juande Ramos to 18 games unbeaten in La Liga with only 1 draw in that span. Real Madrid’s last loss in La Liga was the 2-0 defeat to Barca in the Camp Nou on December 13th. Sevilla has lost 4 straight and lead Valencia by 1 point for 3rd place. The Barca draw & Real’s win set up an exciting and intense Spanish SuperClásico next Saturday.

Villarreal moved back into a European spot as they held off Getafe 2-1 on the road. The Yellow Submarine jumped out to a 2-0 lead on the strength of goals from Joan Capdevila and Joseba Llorente. Villarreal now sits in 5th place just 2 points back of 3rd place Sevilla.

Espanyol continued its inspiring climb from the bottom of the table to safety with an important 2-0 win over Real Betis. Barcelona’s other team is unbeaten in its last 5 matches having won the last 4 and are 2 points out of the relegation zone with Valencia as their next opponent.

Here are the results and standings after Round 33:

SATURDAY, APRIL 25th
Málaga 1 – 1 Deportivo La Coruña
MAL: Albert Luque (32′)
DLC: Sergio González (50′)

Almería 2 – 1 Numancia
ALM: Kalu Uche (6′) & Fernando Soriano (42′)
NUM: Asier Goiria (81′)

Valencia 2 – 2 Barcelona
VAL: Hedwiges Maduro (43′) & Pablo Hernández (45′)
BAR: Lionel Messi (24′) & Thierry Henry (86′)

SUNDAY, APRIL 26th
Athlétic Bilbao 2 – 1 Racing Santander
ATH: Fernando Llorente (22′) & David Lopez (pen 42′)
RAC: Pinillos (pen 56′)

Espanyol 2 – 0 Real Betis
ESP: Luis García (4′) & Román (84′)

Valladolid 0 – 0 Osasuna

Recreativo Huelva 2 – 4 Mallorca
REC: Sisi (48′) & Camuñas (81′)
MAL: Jurado (10′), Arango (15′), ‘Chori’ Castro (76′), Keita (91′)

Getafe 1 – 2 Villarreal
GET: Manu del Moral (pen 81′)
VIL: Joan Capdevila (16′) & Joseba Llorente (43′)

Sevilla 2 – 4 Real Madrid
SEV: Renato (16′) & Diego Capel (80′)
RMA: Raúl (45′, 63′, 66′) & Marcelo (92′)

Atlético Madrid 3 – 1 Sporting Gijón
ATM: Forlán (27′), Simao (41′), Kun Agüero (47′)
SPO: Mate Bilic (48′)

STANDINGS