Match Day 26 saw Barcelona win at the Bernabeu to knock Real Madrid out of the title race. The Catalans won again this weekend as did both Madrid clubs but with the title seemingly heading to Camp Nou again, much of the drama this weekend occurred elsewhere. Getafe now have a 4 point advantage in the race for 4th but most of their rivals won while there were mixed fortunes for surprise relegation candidates Villarreal and Celta Vigo.
Here was the best of the action on match-day 27 in the 2018/19 Spanish Primera Division:
La Liga Match Day 27 Results, Expected Goals & Highlights
Friday 8th March 2019
Athletic Club 1-1 Espanyol (xG 0.84-0.72)
Saturday 9th March 2019
Alaves 1-1 Eibar (xG 1.67-1.84)
Atletico Madrid 1-0 Leganes (xG 2.37-0.23)
Barcelona 3-1 Rayo Vallecano (xG 2.24-0.28)
Getafe 2-1 Huesca (xG 1.33-1.11)
Sunday 10th March 2019
Celta Vigo 0-1 Real Betis (xG 0.56-1.4)
Girona 2-3 Valencia (xG 1.63-1.47)
Sevilla 5-2 Real Sociedad (xG 2.1-1.24)
Levante 0-2 Villarreal (xG 0.8-1.38)
Real Valladolid 1-4 Real Madrid (xG 2.03-2.61)
Links lead to Youtube highlights via the official La Liga channel and may contain ads.
Battle for 4th heats up as Main Contenders Win
#LaLiga ?? | Jornada 27 ?
Getafe 2️⃣ | 1 SD Huesca
GET: Mata 50′ (p) 77′
HUE: Gallego 35′#GetafeHuesca#SFLaLiga ⚽ pic.twitter.com/1fYJogMhr3
— Solo ⚽ Fútbol (@SoloFutbolPlus) March 10, 2019
There looks to be a five-horse battle for 4th place on now. All of the hopefuls won this weekend with the exception of Alaves who could only draw at home to Eibar. They are now 4 points shy of Getafe who came from behind to see off Huesca and leave themselves firmly in the box-seat. However they have a crunch clash against fellow Champions League chasers Valencia this coming weekend in a repeat of the bad-tempered Copa del Rey tie between the sides which descended into a brawl.
The two Seville clubs are also in the frame. Both Quique Setien and Pablo Machin were starting to come under real pressure but both men picked up key wins this weekend with Sevilla beating Sociedad 5-2 while Betis won at Celta with Jese netting the only goal.
Celta in the drop-zone as Escriba loses first match
Focus ??? pic.twitter.com/w8a0LsmzHJ
— JeseRodriguez10 (@JeseRodriguez10) March 9, 2019
That defeat to Betis leaves Celta Vigo in big trouble. It was their first match under new boss Fran Escriba but he now has just 11 games to play with as the Galicians target survival. The only positive for Celta this weekend was that 7 of the current bottom 8 lost meaning they’ve not lost ground on most of the teams around.
Vital Late Win for Villarreal
Super Eagles forward Samuel Chukwueze scores winner as Villarreal beat Levante in LaLiga relegation battle https://t.co/eyt8V0g0tc pic.twitter.com/K1kUuEOWEw
— sexy duisaf (@duisaf) March 10, 2019
The exception though was Villarreal. The Yellow Submarine finally have something to build from on the road after they scored two late goals to win the local derby with Levante. The second was a beautiful curled finish from Samu Chukwueze. Villarreal are now out of the relegation zone but still have plenty of work to do as they bid to stave off an unlikely relegation.
Match Day 27 in Numbers
- Only 1 of the current bottom 8 picked up points this weekend – Villarreal who won at Levante.
- They’d gone 9 away league games without a win prior to that and 4 without scoring.
- Wissam Ben Yedder scored a hat-trick for Sevilla to move onto an impressive 26 goals for the season in all competitions.
- Ben Yedder is one of just 4 players to have scored more league goals than Getafe’s Jaime Mata (13) who was on target again.
- Barcelona are now unbeaten in 15 league games with 12 wins since the 4-3 loss to Betis.
Up Next…
There are big European 2nd Legs for Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Spain’s Europa League participants this week. After that La Liga returns on Friday with Real Sociedad’s clash with Levante. The standout fixture from the weekend is Getafe’s visit to the Mestalla as Spanish football’s most unlikely grudge match gets another chapter and this time it’s key in the race for Champions League football.
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Mark Sochon is an experienced football writer and editor of LaLiga Expert. Based in Madrid, he has covered La Liga and Spanish football for many years. He also covers Spanish and European football for Goal and Betfred, while his work has previously been published by the Guardian and World Soccer.
Thanks for the terrific article