La Liga comes back after the international break, and much like Germany, the drama is taking place in the middle and bottom of the table rather than at the top. We’ll take what we can get. Here’s our recap of this weekend’s action.
La Liga winners
Cucho Hernández
Columbus Crew fans remember this guy. The Colombian striker joined Real Betis this season, and if his goal total hasn’t been what the team wanted (two in 20 games), he has endeared himself to their fans permanently after scoring the winning goal against Betis’ hated cross-town rivals Sevilla. It was a good goal, too, as he timed his run perfectly to latch onto Isco’s touch into his path. Make fun of his nickname if you want, but respect the mark he made in the Seville derby.
Barcelona
Winning their midweek makeup game against Osasuna and then beating Girona puts them three points clear at the top. Osasuna did challenge their loss in court, contending that Barça started Íñigo Martínez against them when it was illegal to do so, but the Spanish FA has apparently dismissed their case, so Barcelona will just have to lose on the pitch if they want to give the trailing teams hope.
Villarreal
Their win at Getafe plus Athletic Bilbao’s goalless draw against Osasuna means that the Yellow Submarine are now six points behind Bilbao for fourth place, and Villarreal have a game in hand. We might see this plucky team back in the Champions League yet.
Valencia
Diego López’ goal and some assured goalkeeping by Giorgi Mamardashvili led to their 1-0 win over Mallorca at home. The relegation scrap has been unpredictable in La Liga this season, but Valencia are now in 15th place and four points clear of safety, so people will be breathing easier around La Mestalla as they prepare to face Real Madrid next week.
Sergio Gómez
Shades of Megan Rapinoe’s goal against France. The Real Sociedad left-winger’s free kick missed all his teammates but found the inside of the far post and assured his team’s victory over distressed, howling Real Valladolid. It was his first goal of the season.
Las Palmas
The point they picked up against Celta de Vigo keeps them one more point (plus goal differential) away from safety and gives them hope that they can keep the Spanish top flight in the Canary Islands next season.
La Liga losers
Leganés
You can chalk up their come-from-ahead loss to Real Madrid’s superior class or to that filthy free kick by Kylian Mbappé that won it. The bottom line is that they threw away a 2-1 halftime lead while relegation rivals Valencia won and Espanyol picked up a tough point.
Atlético Madrid
Were you thinking that the international break might give their players a chance to clear their heads, reset, and launch a renewed assault on the top two? Yeah, it didn’t happen. They slumped to a 1-1 draw to Espanyol that left them six points behind Real Madrid in second place.
Omar Alderete
With his team down 2-1, the Getafe defender had a chance to equalize when the ball came to him six yards in front of Villarreal’s goal with no one marking him. Instead, the Paraguayan produced a “how did he miss that?” moment when he smashed the ball into the upper deck at the Estadio Coliseum. Defensive players everywhere thought, “I could have scored that one.”
Joan Jordán
The trouble with taking a “Panenka” penalty down the middle of the goal is that you look really stupid if the goalkeeper doesn’t move. That’s what the Alavés player did with his team 1-0 down after Nahuel Tenaglia won them a penalty. Rayo Vallecano netminder Augusto Batalla stayed the heck where he was and watched Jordán’s shot float softly into his arms. Rayo wound up winning 2-0. If Alavés do eventually go down, that will be the emblem of their season.