Another weekend of compelling football in the Spanish top flight – at top and bottom – and Barcelona have retained the La Liga leadership. As predicted on these SBOTOP pages, it did seem Real Sociedad would prioritise Thursday’s visit of Manchester United in the Europa League rather than their visit to Catalonia and, sure enough, boss Imanol Alguacil left a number of key men, such as club captain Mikel Oyarzabal, on the bench.
Yet if their decision to rest key men was a risky one, it became an uphill task just 17 minutes in when centre back Aritz Elustondo saw red for bringing down Dani Olmo. Given that the Barca man was 45 yards from goal and his team mate was in close proximity, it was probably unnecessary but Sociedad, who had an early Sergio Gomez goal disallowed for offside, were always fighting a lost cause from that moment. Within six minutes, Olmo picked out full-back Gerard Martin who fired home his first goal for the club and it was soon two as a goalbound Olmo shot took a nick off Marc Casado and suddenly Barca had two first-time goalscorers.
Two became three 11 minutes after the break when Raphinha’s inswinging corner was flicked on and Ronald Araujo nodded home from close range. By then Sociedad had removed Martin Zubimendi and Barrenetxea, another sign that the Basque club had their focus elsewhere.
Robert Lewandowski ensured there was to be no easing off for the Catalans with his 21st league goal of the campaign and at that point you wondered just how many Hansi Flick’s men would get.
As it turned out, they did not add to their tally but it hardly mattered, the game long won and Flick able to rest key personnel of his own in the final quarter. It’s unlikely the title race will be decided by goal difference but should it be, Barca have a distinct advantage with a third of the season remaining.
The Madrid clubs have swapped places in second and third after Saturday’s encounters brought contrasting results. Reigning champions Real Madrid suffered a blow as former midfield star Isco netted a second half penalty to earn Real Betis a 2-1 victory against the club where he won the Champions League five times.
A few hours later, Atletico moved to the La Liga summit with a hard fought win over in-form Athletic Bilbao. Julian Alvarez netted the only goal of the contest and they rode their luck too when Bilbao’s Benat Prados headed against the post and Iñaki Williams crashed the rebound off the underside of the crossbar.
Bilbao remain in fourth spot but Villarreal have a chance to close the gap to a solitary point should they defeat Espanyol on Monday evening.
At the bottom, if we all feel Real Valladolid have a lot to do to claw their way off the basement and out of the bottom three, then they missed a gilt-edged chance at home to fellow strugglers Las Palmas on Friday night.
When Sandro Ramirez opened the scoring in the 22nd minutes for the visitors Valladolid may have felt the worst again, just a week after being hit for seven by Athletic Bilbao. Within seven minutes though, Scott McKenna had been shown a straight red card and the away side had more than 70 minutes to face with 10 men. Valladolid, particularly in the second half, peppered Jasper Cillessen’s goal and were level just after the hour when Juanmi Latasa rifled in from close range. They couldn’t grab a winner, however, and remain eight points behind the side from the Canary Islands.
Alaves remain just a point behind them after coming from behind to draw at Mallorca with Kike Garcia cancelling out Takuma Asano’s ninth minute opener.
Valencia remain in the final relegation berth on goal difference but showed character to snatch a 3-3 draw at Osasuna on Sunday night. Of course, the woes of Valencia have been documented in these pages but there is hope in their ranks and Umar Sadiq’s second goal three minutes from time earned them a point and denied the home team a chance to move closer to the European spots.
Leganes did their safety hopes no harm of good either by edging out Getafe, thanks to a last gasp Diego Garcia winner. Just how crucial that goal could be come May remains to be seen but, for now at least, it was a special moment for last season’s Segunda Division champions.
Talk about La Liga 2025 highlights: the overhead kick that the second half substitute produced two minutes into stoppage time will be remembered by all of those associated with the hosts for a long time to come. With his back to goal, Garcia produced a moment of magic and his acrobatics beat David Soria and sparked jubilant scenes among the home faithful.
I said three weeks ago that the Spanish top flight is starting to get interesting at top and bottom. Going into March, that position remains and the La Liga 2025 betting odds remain delicately poised.
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