La Liga keeps coming through with the drama, as Real Madrid rescued their title chances in dramatic fashion and perhaps can give us some reasons to watch the top teams as the season enters its stretch run. Here’s how it all went down:
La Liga winners
Federico Valverde
It was looking like one of those days for Real Madrid, facing an Athletic Bilbao team that lives to give them trouble, while missing Kylian Mbappé through suspension. With 90 minutes gone, they still hadn’t scored, after Jude Bellingham missed a couple of prime chances and Vinícius Júnior’s goal was called back for offside.
However, in the 93rd minute, the Uruguayan midfielder picked up a clearance in the corner of Bilbao’s penalty box and fired a howitzer into the top corner of the goal on the far side. A draw would have put Barcelona six points clear with six games to go, but Valverde’s wonder goal keeps Real Madrid’s title hopes alive.
Las Palmas
Jaime Mata’s stoppage-time winner gave los amarillos a rousing win at home against Atlético that took them out of the relegation zone and put them three points above Leganés in 19th place. If they do end up going down anyway, their fans can still spend the next season talking about this victory.
Borja Iglesias
His team lost, but a hat trick against Barcelona still is what it is. I feel like I wrote that just a few days ago. The Celta striker now has eight goals this season.
Johnny Cardoso
We love seeing Americans score goals in the big leagues. Maybe his goal wasn’t as elegant as Antony’s one-timer, but the New Jersey native opened the scoring in Real Betis’ 3-1 win over Girona by heading home Isco’s corner kick. I was going to say something snarky about his pencil mustache, but on second thought, that plus the big topping of curly hair on his head makes him look like a Brazilian player from the 1970s, so he can keep it.
Umar Sadiq
That makes five goals in 12 matches for Valencia’s loanee, which is more than he had during two and a half seasons at Real Sociedad. His latest (which he scored while lying on his back) saved a 1-1 draw at Rayo Vallecano, canceling out César Tárrega’s own goal. The long-term numbers suggest that the Nigerian is simply enjoying a run of luck, but Valencia can be grateful for it.
Ante Budimir
Two more goals against lost, miserable Real Valladolid brings the Osasuna striker’s goal total up to 18 this season. Ya know, while all the striker-needy big clubs chase after Victor Osimhen and others this summer, somebody might be able to snap up the big Croat at a bargain price.
La Liga losers
Barcelona’s defense
They didn’t deserve to win that game against Celta de Vigo, and not just because of the next item. First, goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny whiffed on Marcos Alonso’s cross, which allowed Iglesias to tap the ball into an empty net, then a mixup between Frenkie de Jong and Iñigo Martínez gave the Celta striker a free run on goal that he converted, and finally a simple ball over the top handed Iglesias yet another breakaway. No doubt Inter Milan are taking notes ahead of their Champions League clash.
Racist Barcelona fans
They shouted racial slurs at Ilaix Moriba when the Celta forward was subbed out late in the game. The player is from Guinea and came up through Barcelona’s academy before bouncing around. Barça came away with what might just be a signature win in the title race, and these fans did their best to tarnish it.
Atlético Madrid
Remember what I said a while back about this team rediscovering their mentality superpower? Yeah, never mind.
Villarreal
With the score knotted at 2-2, they scored three goals in the second half against Real Sociedad and saw all of them disallowed. The first call was correct, as Yeremy Pino was slightly offside when Juan Foyth played that great pass to him. The second was technically correct, as Ayoze Pérez was in an offside position when Nicolas Pépé’s shot came in, though referee Guillermo Cuadra Fernández could have ruled that Pérez was not interfering with the play and given the goal. The third was just wrong, as Pépé was given a dubious foul before his cross was turned in by Etta Eyong (which would have been his first goal in La Liga). No wonder Villarreal’s players and coach Marcelino were livid and picking up yellow cards. Drawing this way amounts to a loss.
Luiz Júnior
Of course, Villarreal might not have been in that position if their goalkeeper hadn’t committed the sort of error that YouTube was made for. The Brazilian backstopper was looking for a teammate to pass to when Real Sociedad’s Mikel Oyarzabal came up behind him, took the ball off his feet, and put it in the net in one motion. Look for footage of that goal scored to the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme.
Christantus Uche
For the second week in a row, Getafe was undone by a red card. This week, their midfielder saw red with his team down 1-0 in the 61st minute. You can argue that his ejection was soft (and the Nigerian certainly did), but Getafe doesn’t have the offense to rally when they have only 10 men. It was another big win for Espanyol, who are looking safer and safer now.