It was the briefest of winter breaks in La Liga; enough to whet the appetite for more but not quite long enough to really think it had ever been away at all.
Yet less than a fortnight after Espanyol impressed in San Mames with a pre-Christmas 2-1 win against Athletic Bilbao, here we were again – back into action and awaiting the first tranche of La Liga 2026 highlights.
It all started on Friday night with a late show in each half as the spoils were shared between Rayo Vallecano and Getafe.
Onto Saturday and Celta Vigo continued to stay in touch with the European places and ensure Valencia, who struck the post with a seventh minute penalty, remain in trouble following a 4-1 home win.
Another notable result saw Villarreal climb up to third – for 24 hours at least – with a 3-1 win at Elche.
The ‘Yellow Submarine’ have been faring well, particularly impressive given they sold two of their best attackers last summer with the departures of Alex Baena and Thierno Barry to Atletico Madrid and Everton respectively.
Baena was the team’s top playmaker with seven league goals and 10 assists, while Barry had 11 league goals and four assists last season.
They are not dwelling on old friends though and Saturday’s victory came courtesy of two goals in the opening 13 minutes from Alberto Moleiro and Georges Mikautadze.
Elche pulled one back through Martin Neto on the half hour but Alfonso Pedraza had the final word with a left-footed strike seven minutes from time to make the points safe.
Arguably the most anticipated match of the weekend was El Derbi Barceloní. A match-up with a long history of rivalries, a clash between giants and their much smaller neighbours.
The question was, could the hosts spring a surprise against the Spanish champions?
For so long that seemed possible and there seemed set to be a shock for the SBOTOP La Liga 2026 betting odds.
Then, with four minutes remaining in the RCDE Stadium, Dani Olmo curled a superb strike into the top corner. With 90 minutes on the clock, prolific Pole Robert Lewandowski added a second from close range and the points belonged to Barca.
Both goals were set up by Fermin Lopez with the young Spaniard and both scorers coming off the bench to showcase the depth in Hansi Flick’s squad.
Espanyol, who stay sixth, were thwarted on more than one occasion by their former star goalkeeper Joan Garcia and arguably deserved better.
That extended the reigning champions advantage at the top to seven points ahead of Real Madrid’s clash with Real Betis on Sunday afternoon.
Los Blancos were missing Kylian Mbappe and it was a player leading the line in his absence, Gonzalo Garcia, who broke the deadlock 20 minutes in, heading home at the back post to capitalise on lax marking from the visitors.
It set the tone for a memorable afternoon for a player who ended it as the first Real man to score a hat-trick while attempting only three shots in more than six years – it was last achieved by Rodrygo in November 2019.
That was the talking point in a commanding 5-1 win which was added to by goals from Fran Garcia (in stoppage time) and Raul Asencio.
In fairness, two goals in the final eight minutes did put a one-sided look to a contest in which Betis had their moments but Xavi Alonso’s men stay in second, four points off the pace.
The result of the weekend went to Levante who claimed only their third league win of the season to humble Sevilla on their own turf and give themselves hope in the battle to beat the drop.
Iker Losada gave them a confidence boost on the stroke of half-time and they finally had some wriggle room when Carlos Espi doubled the lead 13 minutes from time.
A fine afternoon for the visitors – who started the day rock bottom – was completed in stoppage time when Carlos Alvarez fired in a third, just minutes after Isaac Romero missed from the penalty spot for the hosts.
The penultimate matches on Sunday also involved clubs at the bottom.
Girona climbed out of the bottom three with a 2-1 win at Mallorca who they are now level on points with after goals from Viktor Tsygankov and a Vladyslav Vanat penalty.
Real Oviedo dared to dream they would leapfrog Levante after dropping into the bottom spot and took a first half lead at Alaves through Federico Vinas.
The hosts equalised through Lucas Boye and that was how it stayed, even though Vina was dismissed for a second yellow card with a quarter of an hour remaining (Alaves were also reduced to 10 in the closing stages).
Still, just eight points separate Oviedo in 20th from Sevilla in 11th position and with many clubs not quite at the halfway stage, none of the strugglers are adrift.
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