La Liga snapshot: Barcelona, Madrid powers set stage for thrilling finish

The Madrid powerhouses keep bidding to top the La Liga table. Barcelona keeps denying them.

More specifically, Luis Suarez keeps denying them.

Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid both won again on Saturday, but Suarez’s second straight four-goal performance helped Barcelona retain its league lead. Here’s a look at the title contenders’ performances from the 35th round of La Liga action.

Barcelona 6-0 Sporting de Gijon

After roaring out of its slump midweek with an 8-0 obliteration of Deportivo La Coruna, Barcelona surged for five second-half goals amid a parade of penalties to dismiss Sporting de Gijon at the Nou Camp.

Suarez scored four times to continue his incredible tear, although his first goal wasn’t without a bit of controversy. Lionel Messi found Andres Iniesta down the left side, and Suarez may have been a step offside on Iniesta’s ensuing cross:

In fact, Messi’s opening goal invited skepticism too. There’s no denying the quality of Messi’s header finish, but Suarez might have interfered with Sporting goalkeeper Ivan Cuellar:

Even a couple of the penalties weren’t clear-cut — Sporting’s Ognjen Vranjes was sent off in the 84th minute after a second yellow for faintly tugging at Neymar’s shoulder in the air — but it’s hard to blame bad decisions for the result when Barcelona was its rampant, attacking self for so much of the match. Neymar scored the other goal on a penalty in the 85th minute.

Barcelona still leads the league thanks to its +73 goal differential despite being tied with Atletico Madrid on 82 points.

Suarez now has 53 goals this season across all competitions, the second player in Barcelona history to score 50 or more in a single season after Messi. He also leads Cristiano Ronaldo in the race for the Pichichi Trophy as La Liga’s top scorer by three goals.

Rayo Vallecano 2-3 Real Madrid

Speaking of Ronaldo, he missed his first league match of the entire season with a nagging thigh injury and Real Madrid rallied from two goals down to win against its local rival.

Perhaps more troubling than the escape against a team battling relegation is the loss of Karim Benzema, who had to be substituted off in the 42nd minute with an apparent knee injury. His status for Tuesday’s Champions League semifinal first leg against Manchester City is unclear, as is Ronaldo's.

Gareth Bale scored twice on Saturday, including the first goal on a header to cut the lead to 2-1. After Benzema’s replacement Lucas Vazquez tied the game on another header, Bale won it for Real Madrid by taking advantage of a miserable giveaway by Rayo Vallecano in its own half:

Rayo Vallecano scored twice in the first 15 minutes, including an opener that saw Adri Embarba finish off a wonderful bit of team play:

Real Madrid sits just a point back of Barcelona and Atletico in third place with 81 points, but Benzema’s injury could have a major impact on the club the rest of the season.

Atletico Madrid 1-0 Malaga

Atletico faced the toughest opponent of the three La Liga powers on the day, and the club’s characteristically stout defense combined with Angel Correa’s goal to produce a victory.

Correa came on for Yannick Carasco in the 57th minute, and it took him barely five minutes to make an impact. The Argentine winger received a pass from Filipe Luis above the Malaga box, took a couple touches toward the center and fired a low right-footed shot into the net:

Atletico kept a clean sheet for the 22nd time this season (maybe with some outside help) and has conceded just 16 times in the league, 13 goals less than next-best Barcelona.

That said, Barcelona must still be considered title favorites for several reasons. The Blaugrana don’t face anyone in the top 12 in their remaining three fixtures, and they also don’t have the Champions League to worry about, although one would suspect they wish they still did. Goal differential is also on the Catalans’ side.

But any more slip-ups could cost them dearly. Atletico Madrid is the only one of the three favorites with two home games remaining, while Real Madrid can’t be counted out even with injury issues.

In short, the La Liga title race will likely come down to the wire. Buckle up.