La Liga Midweek Review: Title Race Reignited As Barcelona Replace Real Madrid As League Leaders

In another match week in Spain’s top club footballing league, the action and drama was at it’s highest along side unexpected results, late goals and end to end brilliant display of the game.

With all teams in action, one can probably say Barcelona were the real winners in the top half of the table with the big names around them dropping some points which helped the Catalans leap to the top of the table.

Here is a detailed look at some of the top results of the weekend:

Barcelona 6-1 Sporting Gijon

A match dominated at their best by the home side which was eventually over shadowed by Enrique’s post match conference announcement which revealed his decision of leaving the club in the summer.

However, when it came to the game, it was evident Barcelona were in their ruthless usual best and for some reason a fight back against PSG seemed as their motive while displaying how a team can take a game by it’s neck and control it, with Gijon being the unfortunate opponents.

Messi started proceedings in the 9th minute after Suarez gave the hosts a 2 goal lead after 11 minutes before the away side grabbed one back in the 21st minute to make things interesting at that point. The goal however came as a wake up cal for Barcelona reminding them not to lose points in the title and this led to the rise of the beast, resulting in an addition of 4 goals by Enrique’s men by full time, with Suarez grabbing a brace and Neymar adding to his goal tally for the season too.

This win was crucial for Barcelona as it propelled them to top spot, one point above Real Madrid, having played an extra game though.

---

Real Madrid 3-3 Las Palmas

2017 has been a year full of ups and downs for Real Madrid so far and such was the case in another thrilling encounter at the Santiago Bernabeu. As Zidane’s team welcomed Las Palmas, it all seemed to go according to plan as Isco put his team ahead in the 8th minute but before the celebrations could end, the away side produced a twist in the tale by grabbing an equaliser no later than 2 minutes after the goal.

It stayed this way until half time but those who believed such was going to be the pattern of the second 45 minutes, were in for a real surprise as they couldn’t have been more wrong. The second half started in disastrous fashion for Real Madrid, as Bale, a player who returned after a long injury, saw red for his recklessness in the 47th minute, putting the home side on the back foot for the entire half yet to play.

Things went from bad to worse for Zidane’s ten men on the field as Las Palmas went 3-1 up by the 60th minute, with Viera slotting in a penalty and Kevin Prince Boating firing in a third. With the score and numerical disadvantage, Real Madrid had to show their worth by yet again coming from goals behind to grab vital points to keep the top of the table an even affair.

As may times earlier, it was none other than Cristiano Ronaldo who stepped up to the podium to rescue his team and show just why he deserves every award that’s headed his way over the past year. The Portuguese sensation slotted a penalty in the 86th minute and send the home fans into wild raptures by scoring the equaliser in the 89th minute of the match and salvaging a crucial point which could be of utmost importance in the long run.

---

Deportivo 1-1 Atletico Madrid

The big story of the match was a horrible head injury suffered by Torres during the game which led to the Spaniard being immediately rushed to the hospital after a horrific clash of heads. Luckily, the player was stable soon and earlier today can out of the hospital with a smile and no major damage.

The match however, was an exciting affair as Diego Simeone’s men failed to grab a win and close the gap on the top 3 but put in a valiant effort to come back and snatch a point.

Deportivo’s top scorer Andone grabbed the lead for the home side in the 8th minute after blunders from Oblak and Gimenez. The home team were solid in defence and seemed tough to break down until who else than French magician Antoine Griezmann burst onto the scene with a wonderful long range strike to draw his team level with 22 minutes left to play. The goal was worthy of being a winner but could eventually earn only a single point for Atleti and it sees them lag behind in 4th spot with 46 points, 11 behind leaders Barcelona.

The unpredictable results from both teams in Madrid resulted in Barcelona ending the week on top and heading towards possibly a title winning goodbye for their main man Luis Enrique. Sevilla also managed to stay in the hunt surprisingly so far as they pulled off a 1-0 win over Athletic Bilbao to stay two points behind Barcelona and keep the league race that bit more interesting.

Follow BlameFootball on Twitter and Like on Facebook