As La Liga pauses, intriguingly poised at top and bottom before the first international break of 2025 is upon us, this SBOTOP observer assessed the weekend’s action with interest.
How would Marcelino’s men, Villarreal, fare as the champs came to town, fresh from an exhausting, all-encompassing, all-Madrid Champions League tie in midweek.
And if Real had the joy of victory to boost their weary limbs, how would city rivals Atletico respond to the despair of defeat as they prepared to host leaders Barcelona – both sides with their title aspirations on the line.
Sunday night’s encounter in the Metropolitano Stadium may have been the game most anticipated to deliver La Liga 2025 highlights across the weekend, but it was actually a Friday night opener at the other end of the table which provided the opening chapter of drama.
With time all but up, Alaves looked to have taken a key step in their bid for safety as they led 2-0 at fellow strugglers Las Palmas.
Only six minutes had elapsed when Toni Martínez beat the offside trap and thumped in a volley to give the visitors the lead.
When substitute Jon Guridi doubled that advantage just after the hour mark, racing onto a defence-splitting pass from Asier Villalibre and rounding the goalkeeper to side-foot home, they seemed set to move five points clear of their opponents.
Yet there was a sting in the tail as a Facundo Garcés handball allowed Fábio Silva to convert a 90th minute penalty before Alberto Moleiro’s volley levelled the scores in the sixth and final minute of stoppage time.
While the result extended Las Palmas’ run to 10 league matches without a win, this felt like a victory and they will cherish the point which keeps them in touch with the sides around them.
Into Saturday and two late penalties boosted the European dreams of Celta Vigo and Mallorca respectively.
Marcos Alonso converted his spot-kick seven minutes from time as Vigo won at bottom club Real Valladolid, who genuinely seem cut adrift at the foot of the table, while it was seven minutes into stoppage time before Mallorca won the day at home to Espanyol.
It was mighty controversial as visiting goalkeeper Joan Garcia ended up on the losing side, despite saving two penalties.
At the death, he kept out an Abdon Prats spot-kick but was deemed to have been off his line and the re-take was netted by Vedat Muriqi, who Garcia had already denied from 12 yards in the first half.
The big game on Saturday saw Kylian Mbappe prove the man of the moment with another two smart finishes as Real won at Villarreal for the first time in eight years.
I was pleased my prediction was accurate – our La Liga 2025 betting odds helped as usual – with the champs bouncing back from going behind to Juan Foyth’s seventh minute opener.
Two goals in six minutes from the alert and clinical Mbappe meant the champs led by the 23rd minute and they would not surrender that advantage.
The French captain now has 20 league goals this season, just two behind the league’s top scorer Robert Lewandowski.
Manager Carlo Ancelotti was unhappy that the game took place 66 hours after their Champions League last-16 encounter.
In 2023, FIFA recommended a minimum compulsory rest period of 72 hours between games, a point Madrid have invoked in their protest to La Liga.
With only three points separating five of the bottom six sides, it’s very much all to play for at the other end of the standings.
However, if Leganes do lose their top flight status after winning last season’s Segunda Division, they will look back at today as a pivotal moment.
Dani Raba’s first half-double against Real Betis had put them firmly in the ascendancy and they were set to move out of the drop zone and climb three places.
Then Euro-chasing Betis turned the match on its head and sparked home nerves, scoring three times in the process, spearheaded by the timeless Isco.
The former Real Madrid man reduced the arrears with a 64th minute penalty and then, after Cedric Bakambu had equalised, set up the 82nd minute winner for Cucho Hernandez.
Manuel Pellegrini’s men stay sixth, Leganes stay in the drop zone.
And so it was onto the Metropolitano for the final game of the weekend and drama to match Friday night’s events in the Basque country.
When Atletico went 1-0 in front on the stroke of half-time, my respect for Julian Alvarez, at the centre of their Euro defeat for ‘that’ penalty, increased.
When Atletico doubled that advantage with 20 minutes remaining, substitute Alexander Sorloth the marksman, my admiration for Los Rojiblancos further heightened as they appeared to have overcome both tired limbs and the mental exhaustion from such an energy-sapping and, in many ways, cruel midweek defeat.
Crucially, Lewandowski reduced the areas within two minutes and all the home doubts and freshness of the Catalans came to the fore.
Another sub, Ferran Torres, quickly levelled and then, in stoppage time, teenage star Lamine Yamal broke Atletico hearts with a deflected effort which summed up the misfortune they have experienced all week.
Torres added a fourth in the final seconds and, while it remains a three-horse race at the top, Diego Simeone’s men may struggle to recover from the massive setbacks they have experienced in just four days.
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