La Liga update: Barcelona regains La Liga leadership since November

Tomiwa Babalola

Lionel Messi’s hatrick inspired Barcelona to a 6-1 spanking of Rayo Vallecano on Sunday as they re-claim the Spanish la liga leadership.

Messi, who has now surpassed his arch rival in the league, Cristiano Ronaldo in the number of hatricks scored, scored his thirtieth la liga goal to equal the current Ballon d’Or title record for the season.

Former Liverpool striker, Luis Suarez also got a brace while Gerard pique scored a goal for the Catalans.

Meanwhile, former league leaders, Real Madrid were unable to hold on to their leadership, first after playing a 1-1 draw against Sevilla in the 25^th week, and then lost against Athletico Bilbao over the weekend to surrender their leadership mantle to the Luis Enrique’s men.

City Rivals, Athletico Madrid also edges away from the title contention for top four finish after 1-1 draw with Valencia.

Spain’s midfielder, Koke scored first for the Diego Simeone’s men but they couldn’t steal all the three points as their opponents retaliated and shared points at the Vincente De Caldron on Sunday evening.

Read reactions from Spanish league coaches: 

Lucas Alcaraz (Levante): “The happiness came after suffering”

Gaizka Garitano (Eibar): “We aren’t lucky enough”

DEPORTIVO 3-4 SEVILLA

Víctor Fernández (Deportivo): “It was a crazy, anxious game”

Unai Emery (Sevilla): “We need to improve some aspects about our game”

ATHLETIC 1-0 REAL MADRID

Ernesto Valverde (Athletic): “A week ago, we were eliminated by Torino in UEL, and it looked like a truck run over us”

Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid): “What we do is very confusing”

ELCHE 1-0 ALMERÍA

Fran Escribá (Elche): “It has been one of the most complete games of the season”

Juan Ignacio Martínez (Almería): “This defeat is a big step back”

GRANADA 1-0 MÁLAGA

Abel Resino (Granada): “The victory keep us in the fight”

Javi Gracia (Málaga): “This is not the way”

BARCELONA 6-1 RAYO VALLECANO

Luis Enrique (Barcelona): “We have to improve and think about keeping our best performance to win every game”

Paco Jémez (Rayo Vallecano): “We’ve played as we usually do”

REAL SOCIEDAD 1-0 ESPANYOL

David Moyes (Real Sociedad): “My team deserved the victory”

Sergio González (Espanyol): “Football has been very unfair this week”

VILLARREAL 4-1 CELTA

Marcelino (Villarreal): “It was very important for us winning today”

Eduardo Berizzo (Celta): “They won us fairly”

ATLÉTICO 1-1 VALENCIA

Diego Simeone (Atlético): ““La Liga is still long, our rivals are Sevilla and Valencia, who we’ve not beaten”

Nuno (Valencia): “It has been a great draw, a valuable point against the current champion”

laligatime