La Liga 2013, Week 37: Valencia take over fourth, the relegation fight is wide open

Despite having nothing to play for Real Madrid were still too much for Real Sociedad. Gonazlo Higuain scored in the first half and José Callejón iced the result with a 56th minute strike as Madrid seriously dented Real’s Champions League hopes. Real pulled off a late comeback with a 64th Xabi Prieto penalty and a 78th minute goal from Antoine Griezmann.

Valencia took advantage of Real’s draw and moved into 4th place, two points clear of their only rivals for the spot. Roberto Soldado, Los Che’s leading scorer, did what he did best with his 22nd goal of the season in the 59th minute, giving Valencia the only goal they’d need. A win next week against Sevilla secures a Champions League spot for Valencia.

This week some classic Van Halen tunes help up separate out the matches into three groups: European dreamers, relegation battlers and the teams basically already starting their summer break.

While this match means nothing for Real Madrid, it’s positively massive for Real Sociedad who currently sit in fourth place ahead of Valencia on a tiebreaker. What is that tiebreaker? I’m glad you asked! In Spain, if two teams tie on points in the standings, the higher position is awarded to the team with the better head-to-head goal differential. In their two meetings against Valenica, Real won by a combined 9-4 score, so should they remained tied on points, Real will take fourth place.