La Liga, week thirty-three-plus

La Liga at week thirty-three, saw Barcelona on top of the table at 83 points, Atletico Madrid in second at 71, Real Madrid in third at 68 and Valencia at 65 in fourth, ten points clear in the last Champions League slot, with Real Betis at 55 points and Villarreal at 51, as the only teams at fifty points or more. The Catalans seem a lock to win the domestic title and should clinch with games to spare.

Barcelona’s Messi continued to lead the scorers table at 29 goals, Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo was second with 24, Barca’s Suarez was third at 23, and Celta Vigo’s Iago Aspas rounded out the top four at 20 goals with everyone else in the teens or below.

On Saturday, Barcelona defeated Sevilla 5-0 at the Atletico Madrid’s home stadium, the Wanda Metropolitano, to clinch the 2017-18 Copa del Rey with goals from Luis Suarez (14, 40), Lionel Messi (31), Andres Iniesta (52) and Philippe Coutinho (69-P).

The 33rd round, played on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, saw Real Betis beat visiting Las Palmas 1-0, Levante winning at home over Malaga 1-0, Girona beating Alaves away 2-1, hosts Real Sociedad clobbering Atletico Madrid 3-0, Real Madrid drawing at home against Athletic Bilbao 1-1, Eibar winning away to Espanyol 1-0, Getafe defeating hosts Valencia 2-1, Villarreal winning over visiting Leganes 2-1, Barcelona maintaining their unbeaten streak alive by drawing at Celta Vigo 2-2, and Deportivo drawing at home against Sevilla.

On Sunday, seven Round 34 games were played with Atletico Madrid drawing 0-0 at home with Real Betis, Las Palmas losing to visiting Alaves 0-4, Malaga holding court to the tune of 2-0 over Real Sociedad, Girona losing at home 0-2 to Espanyol, Celta Vigo drawing 1-1 at home with Valencia, Getafe winning away to Eibar 1-0 and Leganes being held at home 0-0 by Deportivo. On Monday, Athletic Bilbao will host Levante at 3:00 PM.

Despite losing three of their last six matches, Girona hangs tough at number nine on the table. With four matches to go, the top four seem unassailable while Malaga has been relegated and Las Palmas and Deportivo seem in real danger of joining them.