The La Liga title race took another sharp twist this weekend as Barcelona took the top spot back, thanks to an impressive 3-0 win over Levante on Sunday while Real Madrid lost to Osasuna on Saturday.
The Blaugrana have led the title race for much of the season but Los Blancos took over last week after Hansi Flick’s men went down to Girona, but they reacted well on Sunday to sweep Levante aside in some style.
With just four minutes on the clock Barcelona were ahead when Eric Garcia fired a corner over and the red hot Marc Bernal slotted the ball home. It was all Barca and the game drifted away from Levante before half time when Joao Cancelo passed to Frenkie de Jong and the Dutch master hit the bottom left corner with a well crafted strike. The hosts kept probing and the third goal came when Lamine Yamal found Fermin Lopez and he fired his shot low into the net from 20 yards.
Four defeats on the bounce have plunged 19th placed Levante deeper into relegation trouble. But it was a dominant display from the Catalans who had 72 per cent possession of the ball and 22 shots to five, with nine on two on target. It’s been another momentous weekend in the Primera Division and the La Liga 2026 betting odds have shifted back towards Barcelona.
Osasuna vs Real Madrid was the big game on Saturday and boy did it deliver as Los Rojillos turned over the Galacticos in some style. Real had more possession and edged the shot count by 15 to 13, but they were rather lucky to stay on level terms before Ante Budmir opened the scoring from the penalty spot on 38 minutes. The Croatian striker, so often Osasuna’s go-to man, has 66 goals from 154 appearances and he was man-of-the-match again on Saturday.
A superb set of La Liga 2026 results, four wins and two draws, has lifted Osasuna up to ninth in the Primera Division, and they took the game to Los Blancos as Thibaut Courtois denied Budmir with a spectacular one handed save before the Osasuna forward crashed the upright with a powerful header. But Budmir got the better of the Madrid keeper when he drew a foul from him, landing Courtois with a yellow card and then beating him from 12 yards.
Real were hoping to go five points clear at the top of the table and Vinicius Junior gave them hope when he struck on 73 minutes, but a late hit from Raul Garcia gave Osasuna all three points and served up a first league defeat in six games to their visitors. And now Real Madrid must refocus in time for a Champions League play-off second leg against Benfica on Wednesday.
The Red side of Madrid is happy this weekend though
My SBOTOP colleague James asked the real Rojiblancos to stand up when Atletico Madrid vs Espanyol kicked off on Saturday, and so they did, after a stuttering run of results they put a marker down with a statement 4-2 victory. Los Periquitos grabbed an early lead when Jofre Carreras finished off a rapid break but Atleti hit back when Alexander Sorloth converted a cross from Marco Llorente.
Los Rojiblancos came out from the half time break firing on all cylinders and Giuliano Simeone slid home the second after he picked up a through ball from Alex Baena. Ademola Lookman nodded in the third and Sorloth completed his brace with a powerful header, before Espanyol picked up a late consolation when Edu Exposito fired a low shot from range into the corner.
On Friday night Athletic Bilbao beat Elche 2-1 to move on to the fringe of the European places while leaving Los Franjiverdes in relegation trouble
And there was a six goal thriller in San Sebastian where Real Sociedad drew 3-3 with Real Oviedo. The bottom club are still fighting, eight points from safety and, at times in a sizzling second half, Oviedo thought they had three unexpected points… and then none, before ending up with one. Two headed goals in three minutes at the start of the second half, courtesy of striker Federico Vinas, put the visitors firmly in control, but Sociedad fought back when Orri Oskarsson planted a header home midway through the second half.
With time running out Duje Caleta-Car headed an 87th minute leveller and Iceland striker Oskkarsson though he’d won it for Sociedad when he rounded off a fast break in the last minute of normal time, only for centre back Eric Bailly to nod home in an injury time equaliser.
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