With only a handful of games left until the end of the season, every point scored in the La Liga counts. That is especially true for the teams at the top of the standings: FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Atletico Madrid. All three played this weekend with various results. How did their efforts affect the standings?
Real was the first to play this weekend as they faced off against Valencia, a club which is currently 15th in the La Liga standings. The game started off rough for the team fighting for the championship. They conceded a goal after only 15 minutes, due to Mouctar Diakhaby’s short. Although they tried to equalise the score before the first half ended, they were not able to. Their ‘saving grace’ came in the 50th minute due to a collaborative effort of Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham.
The score stood at 1:1 for most of the game. Real had a chance to improve it after being awarded a penalty. Unfortunately for them, Vinicius sent the ball right into Giorgi Mamardashvili’s arms. A draw would not have been the best possible result for Real, but it would still give them at least one point to add to their tally.
That would have been much better than the zero they ended up with after Valencia’s last-minute goal. Although the score didn’t change during the regular time, Hugo Duro became Valencia’s hero once he scored a game-altering header. He was assisted by Rafa Mir. The game ended soon after, marking a first La Liga loss in four games for Real Madrid.
A few hours after Real Madrid lost to Valencia, Barcelona played a game of their own against Real Betis. The score opened in only the 7th minute after Gavi scored his first goal in La Liga this season. The joy of the Culers didn’t last long as only ten minutes later Betis equalized. The second goal of the game belonged to the young Natan.
The second half of the game did not lead to any goals being conceded, but it was no less eventful. Barcelona pushed hard, looking for any opportunity to get past Betis’ organized defense. They didn’t manage to find the right moment before their time ran out. The game ended in a draw. Barcelona remains undefeated in 2025 but their streak of wins in La Liga has been broken.
Although Atletico is the furthest from the lead of La Liga out of the top three teams, they still stand a chance to win it under the right circumstances. So, after Real Madrid lost, and Barcelona drew, a lot was at stake as the team walked onto the pitch on a Sunday afternoon.
Just like in the match between Barcelona and Real Betis, the first goal was scored in the 7th minute. Sevilla’s Lucien Agoume was the one to put his team in the lead. Atletico got a chance to equalize the score around the 25th minute after Coner Gallagher drew a foul by Sevilla’s net. A penalty was awarded to Atletico and Julian Alvarez was the player assigned to take it. He managed to easily convert it into a goal.
The game slowed down in the second half and no more goals were scored during the regular time. It seemed like a draw was imminent with only six minutes of added time announced by the referee. Then Pablo Barros, assited by Marcos Llorente changed the game with a 93rd minute goal. Thanks to their efforts, Atletico made up points to both Real and Barcelona.
After a loss, a draw, and a win, the teams stayed in the same order but the point differences between them changed. Barcelona is still first in the standings with 67 points. Their lead over Real (now sitting at 63 points) increased by one point. Atletico caught up to Real and is now only three points behind their home rival. The fight for the La Liga title is still wide open.
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