La Liga Roundup – Week 27

The Top 3 of La Liga remained intact but the race for 4th place and the final Champions League spot got a bit tighter.

Villarreal gave up a 2-0 lead at the Vicente Calderon to Atlético Madrid and lost 3-2 with Antonio Lopez scoring the game winner in the 83rd minute.  The win vaulted Los Colchoneros into 5th place just 2 points behind Villarreal and ahead of Malaga on goal differential.

Malaga started the make or break stretch of their season with a 2-2  home draw vs. Sevilla.  Malaga had a 2-0 lead at halftime but could not seal the 3 points and fell victim to the goal scoring talents of Frederic Kanoute & Luis Fabiano in the 2nd half. Malaga’s murderous stretch continues next week with a trip to the Camp Nou and 1st place, Barcelona.

The other team battling for that last Champions League spot is Deportivo La Coruna.  El Depor lost a tough 3-2 contest to Sporting Gijon on the road.  Sporting was one team that was able to hold on to a 2-0 lead and win. The loss put Deportivo in 7th place and out of a Europa League spot.  With 11 weeks of football left a lot can change especially when only 5 points separates 4th place from 8th place.

Here are the results from Week 27 & Standings:

Saturday, March 14

Valencia 1 – 1 Recreativo Huelva
VAL: Pablo (83′)
REC: Camuñas (54′)

Athletic Bilbao 2 – 5 Real Madrid
ATH: Heinze (og 36′) & Llorente (45′)
RMA:  Robben (22′), Heinze (34′), Huntelaar (47′ & 61′), Higuaín (pen 85′)

Sunday, March 15

Espanyol 3 – 3 Mallorca
ESP: Callejón (56′), De la Peña (71′), Nené (82′)
MAL: Arango (39′), C. Santana (60′), Jurado (70′)

Malaga 2 – 2 Sevilla
MAG: Salva (19′ & 32′)
SEV: Kanouté (74′) & Luis Fabiano (84′)

Racing Santander 5 – 0 Numancia
RAC: Óscar Serrano (16′ & 45′), Luccin (27′), Zigic (33′ & 40′)

Valladolid 1 – 0 Getafe
VAL: Cannobio (86′)

Real Betis 0 – 0 Osasuna

Sporting Gijon 3 – 2 Deportivo La Coruna
SPG: Luis Morán (48′), Barral (pen 52′), José Ángel (71′)
DLC: Sergio (67′) & Riki (85′)

Atlético Madrid 3 – 2 Villarreal
ATM: Agüero (53′), Forlán (80′), Antonio López (82′)
VIL: Matías Fernández (19′) & Cani (52′)

Almeria 0 – 2 Barcelona
BAR: Bojan (53′ & 56′)

STANDINGS: