As the calendar gets closer to June this memorable La Liga season nears its amazing end. At this point the main battle is to avoid relegation. Sporting Gijon got a HUGE 2-1 road win against Valladolid in their quest to stay in the Spanish 1st division. Mate Bilic scored the game winner in the 79th minute to give them the points and pull even with Osasuna on points. Sporting is still in the relegation zone in 18th but sit 2 points behind 14th place Valladolid.
Osasuna defeated Barcelona 1-0 to keep themselves out of the relegation zone. Walter Pandiani displayed his knack for timely goals by scoring what turned to be the game winner. Real Betis slipped closer to the drop after their 1-1 draw at Málaga while Getafe secured Numancia’s descent to the 2nd division with a 1-0 win. Ex-Real Madrid forward Roberto Soldado scored his 13th goal of the season in the victory.
Diego Forlan has probably won the Pichichi trophy after his hat trick in leading Atlético Madrid to a 4-1 road win over Athletic Bilbao. The hat trick gave him 31 goals on the season as he passed Barcelona’s Samuel Eto’o on the Pichichi list. Los Colchoneros have won 7 of their last 8 matches as they get closer to locking up a Champions League spot.
Here are the results & standings from Week 37
SATURDAY, MAY 23rd
Athletic Bilbao 1 – 4 Atlético Madrid
ATB: Etxeita (68′)
ATM: Raúl García (59′) Diego Forlán (73′, 77′, pen 87′)
Barcelona 0 – 1 Osasuna
OSA: Walter Pandiani (26′)
Málaga 1 – 1 Real Betis
MAL: Albert Luque (81′)
BET: Edu (43′)
Valladolid 1 – 2 Sporting Gijon
VAL: Jonathan Sesma (69′)
SPO: Diego Camacho (44′) & Mate Bilic (79′)
Villarreal 3 – 1 Valencia
VIL: Joseba Llorente (15′ & 31′) & Cani (67′)
VAL: David Villa (41′)
Sevilla 1 – 0 Deportivo La Coruña
SEV: Diego Perotti (90′)
Recreativo Huelva 0 – 1 Racing Santander
RAC: Nikola Zigic (76′)
Getafe 1 – 0 Numancia
GET: Roberto Soldado (61′)
Almeria 0 – 3 Espanyol
ESP: Iván Alonso (26′ & 71′) & Coro (90′)
SUNDAY, MAY 24th
Real Madrid 1 – 3 Mallorca
RMA: Gonzalo Higuaín (20′)
MAL: Juan Arango (26′), Cléber Santana (59′), Alhassane Keita (71′)
