La Liga, Round 33: Atlético Madrid defeats Getafe, remain in first place

In terms of change within the league table, round 33 was fairly quiet. The title race changed just a bit, and two teams in the mid-table switched spots, but beyond that, everyone held their position as the scheduled move one week closer to the season finale.

Here’s the full list of results from round 33 in Spain.

Diego Costa doesn’t appear to have suffered a serious injury after all. Atletico Madrid downplayed the seriousness of the injury after the match and said that he has a nasty gash on his leg, but nothing more.

That Costa’s injury is not too bad is wonderful news for him, Atletico Madrid and Spain. The striker hurt himself after scoring, with his momentum carrying him into the post. He clattered into the metal and his shin took the brunt of the trauma, Costa went to the ground in obvious pain and was eventually stretchered off, leaving people to hope that he hadn’t broken his leg.

Observe.

Full moon fever.

Diego Costa and Arda Turan, both of whom missed the Barcelona match, remain doubtful for Sunday. Simeone will likely elect to hold them both back to allow them more time to heal, hoping his roster is capable of dealing with Getafe without them.

Getafe have lost two of their last three matches, but could lift themselves out of the relegation zone with a surprise victory over Atléti.

Real Madrid moved past Barcelona into second place and kept pressure on rivals Atlético Madrid in the title race with a 4-0 victory over Almeria at the Bernabéu. Ángel di Maria, Gareth Bale, Álvaro Morata and Isco all scored for Los Blancos.

Di María finally solved Esteban in the 28th minute, beating the keeper with a lovely strike inside the far post. Di María played a quick one-two with Nacho on the right wing before cutting inside, a dribbling right around the Almeria defenders, before putting his shot past Esteban to give Madrid the 1-0 lead.

This child just ran onto the pitch and wrapped herself around Iniesta’s waist. Since security was trying to haul her away and Iniesta was trying to pry her off, I’m going to go ahead and assume that he didn’t know who she was.

Football has 12-year-old girls invading the pitch now. God help us all.

Despite having most of the possession, generating nearly all of the chances, and outshooting Granada 28-5, Barcelona could not solve Orestis Karnezis and fell 1-0 against Granada. Yacine Brahimi’s goal early in the first half was the difference, as Barca’s dreams of another league title are in serious trouble.

Barca answered the goal as you might expect with an avalanche of pressure on the Granada goal, but the home side stood strong. Karnezis made several good saves, including a denial of Neymar after the Brazilian launched a shot from more than 30 yards out that the Granada keeper was able to turn around the post.

Real Madrid welcome 19th-placed Almeria to the Bernabéu on Saturday, looking to pick-up three more points as they wait, and hope, that Atlético and Barca will slip-up ahead of them.

Madrid sit third in the table, three points off the top, but their schedule remains busy with the Copa del Rey final in the midweek and a Champions League semifinal coming soon. Cristiano Ronaldo remains out with a thigh injury, while Dani Carvajal and Xabi Alonso are suspended. Marcelo is reportedly set to return, but Ancelotti is likely to be weary of rushing him back too fast.

Five rounds remain in the 2013/14 La Liga season. Each team has 15 potential points on the table to, depending on their place in the table, win a title, claim fourth place, qualify for the Europa League or avoid relegation.

Here’s the full schedule for round 33 in Spain.