The bottom three in La Liga all pulled off impressive wins on Matchday 32, as each side battles to preserve their Primera Division status, coming into the final few fixtures of the campaign.
With only six games remaining Tenerife, Valladolid and Xerez all picked up another three points in their bid for survival and now the gap between Malaga in 17th and Tenerife in 18th stands at just three points, giving a few other sides above them a cause for concern.
Xerez, who have hit a good run of form in recent weeks by picking up 11 points from their last six games, continued their purple patch by upsetting Europa League semi-finalists Atletico Madrid 2-1 away from home with goals from Mario Bermejo and Emiliano Armenteros.
Tenerife scored two late goals to win 2-0 away at Sporting Gijon, and now look the more likely out of the three to survive.
Valladolid saw off out of sorts Sevilla 2-1 at the Jose Zorrilla, thanks to strikes from Diego Castro and Manucho, with Cala’s stunning 25-yard strike coming to late to salvage anything for the visitors.
Sevilla are now going to face a struggle to claim fourth place, with Mallorca a point clear of them following a 1-1 draw at Zaragoza.
At the top Barcelona remain three points clear of Real Madrid after coasting to a 3-0 victory over Deportivo at the Nou Camp, with Pedro scoring the pick of the goals from 40 yards. Real also won their fixture, but made hard work of it as they overcame Almeria 2-1, with Cristiano Ronaldo on the score sheet with a brilliant solo effort.
Meanwhile Valencia strengthened their case for third spot with an easy 2-0 over Athletic Bilbao at the Mestalla.
Elsewhere Malaga and Osasuna played out an exciting 2-2 draw, Racing Santander beat Espanyol 3-1 and Getafe brushed aside Villarreal 3-0.
La Liga Base 
Why do I continue to judge Pedro as being nowhere near as good as Henry just because his FIFA 10 stats aren’t very good? Messi’s stats were poor in FIFA 08 and he was already starting to become the dominant force he is now…
Brilliant strike – yes it was into an almost-unguarded net, but it was first-time from that distance and well-placed – a well-positioned goalkeeper would only have been able to force a corner kick.
great blog! it’s good to see good la liga content out there. i post for two blogs that have la liga content: monchismen (a sevilla blog) and nosrslr (variety of topics). out of curiosity, what team do you support?
Thanks for the comments, and glad you enjoy the blog.
I think most football fans would agree that Pedro is far from the finished article, and I think Guardiola has given him so much playing time this season because Henry is likely to leave in the summer, and he is looking towards the future for next season. I have to admit though, his stats on fifa could do with an update.
I will check out the other La Liga blogs out there now you have mentioned them, as it will be interesting to see what they cover and how I could improve. I support Manchester United, with Valencia probably my preferred side in La Liga, though I have no great affiliation towards them.
Gr8 blog mate really good read. And great to see you give Real Valladolid some much deserved praise, hasn’t been the best of years but still hoping that they can stay up as there my favourite Spanish side. After losing players like Asenjo i’m just hoping that they can improve on their 16th place last year and beat the drop.
I really liked the poll idea just wondered if you had considered doing a section on the more unknown wonderkids of the Spanish league such as
Iker Munian – Athletic
Edu Ramos – Malaga
Daniel Aquino – Murcia
Raul Goni – Zaragoza
Daniel Opare – Real Madrid
Thanks Liam.
I can’t see Valladolid staying up this season if i’m honest, as they have looked the poorer out of the bottom three in recent weeks. I think i’m swaying towards a bottom three of Malaga, Valladolid and Xerez at the minute, as I think Tenerife might have just enough to get out of it. But only just!
I’m going to do more polls and an end of season La Liga Awards piece, so if you have any ideas for those then let me know.
I will look into the wonderkids you have mentioned, as so far I think I have only briefly covered Canales, and will put more together on them when the season is finished and there is less action to comment on.