Jornada 29 begins
Fri. 18 March 2100 Athletic 1, Getafe 1 Athletic is in eighth place, five points back of the last possible EL spot. Geta is 15th, four points above the drop. Enes Unal, Geta's go-to guy this season, gives Geta the lead at 3'; Yuri Berchiche ties for Athletic at 29'--1-1, which turns out to be the final score. Big point for Geta, now five points above the drop.
Sat. 19 March
1400 Alavés 2, Granada 3 Granada beat Alavés 2-1 in the first go-around, so Alavés must beat Granada by two goals to win H2H between them and thus climb out of the drop. Well, there might be a couple of other considerations, but that's the long and short of it, as Granada is one point and one place above the drop and three points above 19th place Alavés. At 26', Maximiano, Granada's goalie, saves a pk by Joselu of Alavés--still scoreless. And still scoreless at the half in Mendizorroza. At 50', Sergio Escudero gives Granada the lead--0-1. But the euphoria is short-lived, as Escalante ties for Alavés at 53'--1-1. At 57', Manu Vallejo gives Alavés the lead--2-1. At 78', after a long session with the VAR, Granada is credited with the goal that ties it 2-2--scorer Antonio Puertas. Luis Suárez misses one he shouldn't have missed, then at 87', he puts in the goal that gives Granada the lead--2-3. After about 10 added minutes, Granada has held on to win a game that may prove to have been crucial in keeping them in First Division.
1615 Elche 0, Valencia 1 Elche is tough at home; they are 5-5-3 in the Martínez Valero. Elche is eight points above the drop. Valencia is ninth, eight points back of the last European spot . . . although they could take the last European spot if they win the Copa del Rey in the Final vs Betis. Scoreless first half in the Martínez Valero. At 49', Gonçalo Guedes, surely Valencia's MVP this season, makes it 0-1 for los ché. And 0-1 is the final. Valencia remains ninth in LaLiga; Elche remains 14th.
1830 Osasuna 3, Levante 1 Osasuna is in mid-table, 11 points above the drop. Levante is still dead last, but they are now within six points of the lowest team not in the drop. At 44', Chimy Avila scores to give Osasuna the lead--1-0 at the half. At 57', Budimir makes it 2-0 after a giveaway by Levante. And Levante has completely fallen apart--Brasanac makes it 3-0 for Osasuna at 64'. At 76', Roger Martí scores the "gol del honor" for Levante--3-1. And that's the final, which leaves Levante a minimum of seven points deep in the drop, and leaves Osasuna comfortably in mid-table.
2100 Rayo 0, Atlético 1 Rayo hasn't won in a month of Sundays, and is now 13th, eight points above the drop. Atlético is euphoric coming in after the HUGE win in Manchester. Atleti is in the last CL spot, and they must win this game to be sure of staying there. Scoreless first half in Vallecas. Rayo is hanging in there! But at 49', Koke scores to give Atleti the lead--0-1; it was Koke's first goal in LaLiga in 14 months, if I heard the announcers correctly. Assist by Joao Félix. If Atleti goes on to win, they'll finish the jornada in third place unless Barça wins tomorrow in the Bernabéu. Counting the house: 10,349 in Vallecas--second-biggest turnout of the year
Nteka misses a great chance for Rayo at about 80'. Atleti holds, with a bit of difficulty . . .
Sun. 20 March
1400 Espanyol 1, Mallorca 0 Espanyol is in lower mid-table, nine points above the drop. Mallorca is 16th, two points above the drop. At about 42', RDT gives Espanyol the lead--1-0; assist by Sergi Darder. Halftime in Cornellà-El Prat. And Espanyol goes on to win it, for the moment passing Celta as they climb to 11th place. If Cádiz wins later, Mallorca will be in the drop.
1615 Celta 0, Betis 0 Celta is in mid-table, "sin pena ni gloria." Betis is fifth, two points back of the last CL spot. Scoreless at halftime in Balaídos. And scoreless at full time also. Betis will be in fifth place at the jornada's end.
1615 Cádiz 1, Villarreal 0 Cádiz is the top of the drop, one point back of the lowest team not in the drop. Villarreal is seventh, maybe in an EL spot, maybe not. They are six points shy of the last CL spot; they'll be coming in off their do-or-die game at Juventus on Wed. Scoreless at halftime in the Nuevo Mirandilla. At about 90', hope for Cádiz, as Rubén Sobrino puts in Negredo's assist to score his first goal for Cádiz to give them the lead--1-0. And they hold the lead in added time to win and climb out of the drop
Cádiz is now 17th, one point ahead of now-in-the-drop Mallorca.
1830 Sevilla 0, Real Sociedad 0 Sevilla is in second place, 10 points off the pace and seven points above the top EL spot, occupied by Betis. La Real is sixth, four points back of the last CL spot. Scoreless first half in the Sánchez Pizjuán. And scoreless second half. Sevilla now is three points ahead of Atlético.
2100 Real Madrid 0, Barça 4 The "Clásico," dubbed the "Cáshico" by Forumites
Real has to be the favorite; they lead LaLiga and are fifteen points above third-place Barça. Last ten games: Real 7-2-1; Barça 8-2-0. El Realísimo won 1-2 at the Camp Nou back in October. Xavi goes pretty much with the lineup he used at Galatasaray. Benzema is "entre algodones" ("hurting") and is not on the list for Real. At 29' comes the first breakthrough--Aubameyang scores with a header, assisted by Dembélé, whose assist is described by marca.com as "un centro con música"--0-1.
At 38', Araújo makes it 0-2: he jumps high to head a corner downward, point-blank into the goal. Halftime in the Bernabéu, with a looong way to go. Can Ancelotti find the answer to what has happened in the first half
Ferrán Torres misses one that you just can't miss at the start of the second half. Yup, there is indeed a long way to go . . .
But
then at 47', Ferrán T. has another chance, and this time he doesn't miss--0-3. This can't be for real--is it April Fool's Day yet
At 52', the Real defenders think the play is over and stop, but Auba puts the ball in the net and VAR says it counts--0-4. Real's lead over Sevilla is still nine points, and they still lead Barça and Atleti by 12. Barça does have a game in hand . . . Will Real hear the footsteps behind them
But the VAR overturns the red card and turns it to yellow
There are plenty of other examples on here though.