Things stayed put atop the La Liga table, but the movement came at the bottom. Hey, we’ll take our footballing excitement where we can find it.
La Liga Winners
Oihan Sancet and Nico Williams
With Rayo Vallecano tied 1-1 at Bilbao and seemingly creating more scoring chances, the home team’s offense finally clicked into place as Williams scored off a sizzling left-footed shot from the right corner and then Sancet assured the victory with another screamer from outside the box off a Rayo turnover. Sancet’s 15th goal of the season places him third among La Liga goal-scorers, behind only Mbappé and Lewandowski.
Giorgi Mamardashvili
Valencia’s 1-0 result over Sevilla might have been more comfortable with better finishing, but then Sevilla might also have had a bunch of goals if not for some great saves by Valencia’s Georgian goalkeeper. The win took Valencia to 13th place, heady territory for a team that has been fighting relegation, and deepened the woes at Seville.
Roberto Fernández
A striker who wears Number 2 on his jersey looks weird, but that number might as well have stood for the number of goals that the Espanyol man scored in a big road win against Celta de Vigo. His first goal came from running onto a through ball by Javi Puado, and then he created his second all by himself when he stole the ball from Celta’s Carlos Domínguez and deposited it in the net. That makes five goals since he joined the team on loan in January, and they may save Espanyol from relegation.
Yáser Asprilla
He has not managed to replace the goal-scoring that Girona had last year with Artem Dovbyk (who’s at Roma now), but the Colombian fired in a spectacular left-footed shot in the dying moments of his team’s 2-1 loss to Osasuna that the fans will appreciate.
Cyle Larin
The Canadian striker latched onto Sergi Darder’s through ball for his first goal for Mallorca since the start of the new year. It led to his team’s 2-0 victory at Real Sociedad. Maybe Mallorca has figured out how to play with the former Orlando City player instead of the injured Vedat Muriqi leading the line.
La Liga Losers
Jorge Sáenz
Say it with me: This sport can be cruel. On balance, Leganés played mighty Barcelona evenly at the Estadio Municipal Butarque, defending bravely and creating a number of chances through the speedy Dani Raba. Yet the only goal of the contest belonged to Sáenz, when his attempt to prevent Raphinha’s cross from reaching Róbert Lewandowski instead poked the ball past his own goalkeeper into the net. With relegation rivals Espanyol and Las Palmas both winning their matches this week, Leganés are in real trouble.
Alavés
You’d have thought it was the World Series of Poker with all the cards being handed out during their loss to Real Madrid. Not only did los babazorros fail to find an equalizer during the half-hour they played with the man advantage after Kylian Mbappé’s red card, they’ll now be without Manu Sánchez after he picked up a red of his own.
Diego Rico
Getafe had never given up more than two goals in any game this season, but then their left-back planted his studs on Las Palmas’ Viti Rozada and promptly saw red from referee Javier Alberola Rojas. Reduced to 10 men, Getafe’s usual defensive stranglehold broke, along with their 1-0 lead, as the visitors stormed back for a 3-1 win.
Álex Remiro
The clanger of the weekend belonged to Real Sociedad’s goalkeeper, who had a clean, unobstructed view of Sergi Darder’s shot from the top of the box and still managed to let the shot crawl under his hand and bounce into the roof of the net.
Isco
If there’s one Real Betis player you’d want to have on a breakaway with the game on the line, it’s him, surely. Yet with his team down 2-1, he collected Giovani Lo Celso’s pass, got a step beyond the last defender, shot, and saw his attempt fly just wide of the post. You won’t see that too often from a player of his quality, but it sealed his team’s defeat at home to Villarreal.
Clément Lenglet
Atlético’s 4-2 win over Real Valladolid would have been much more emphatic if not for the Frenchman’s bad day at the office. He managed to put his elbow on a corner kick that gave Valladolid a penalty, and then his challenge caught Chuki’s heel outside the penalty box, which not only earned him a yellow card but also gave Valladolid their second on the ensuing free kick. The former Barcelona man has been a great fit for Atlético’s style of play, but he’ll want to forget this game quickly.