La Liga, Week 29: Real Sociedad moves back into fourth place

There were two matches in Spain on Monday and a severe lack of goals. Despite that, both results had implications as Athletic Bilbao picked up important points, while Betis and Getafe wasted an opportunity.

• Bayern, Juventus each face their toughest test yet

Relegation threatened Osauna took a big step towards safety with a resounding 3-1 victory over Real Valladolid. Valladolid took the lead in the 11th minute thanks to an own goal from Ruben Gonzalez but the second half belonged to Osasuna. Kike Sola completed a brace in ten minutes to give Osasuna the lead and Miguel de las Cuevas put the game away in the 69th minute.

• Lionel Messi is pants-on-head crazy

Júlio Baptista scored his first goal in 18 months ten minuts into the second half to put Malaga in the lead for good. Pedro Morales secured the three points with a goal in the 86th minute.

Garcia Ruben’s 40th minute shot from 25-yards out was all Levante needed to leapfrog Sevilla into 10th place in the league. While Levante are unlikely to be able to make up the ground, they’re not out of the fight for a European spot, only five points out of 6th place.

Celta looked lively early and even put the ball in the back of the net in the 11th minute when Augusto Fernández

skillfully finished off a header from Nacho Insa. Fernández was a mile offside though and the officials wasted no time disallowing the goal.

Excellent goalkeeping from José Manuel Pinto kept Celta off the scoreboard again. Gerard Piqúe made a mess of a clearance attempt and directed the ball right at Pinto who parried it away. The rebound went right to the foot of Borja Oubina whose shot was blocked away by Pinto and out for a corner.

In the 73rd minute of Barcelona’s match today against Celta Vigo, Lionel Messi scored his 29th goal in his last 19 league matches. It’s his 43rd in the league this season.

Why is this special? I’m glad you asked.

Real Zaragoza injuries and suspensions

Out: Stefan Babovic (suspended).

File that under insane.

Celta have their own laundry list of injuries including the loss of Michael Krohn-Dehli who hurt his knee on international duty. They will be boosted by the return of Quique de Lucas and Natxo Insa.

As often happens in top heavy leagues when the season begins to wind down, you have to move your attention down the table to find the interesting matches and story lines. The scrum for the fourth Champions League place and Europa League spots is excellent and the battle at the bottom is just as close. The match week’s best game is a relegation six-pointer between Mallorca vs. Deportiva La Coruña on Sunday.

Here’s a look at all the matches in Spain this week.