La Liga Matchday 17 – Referees take centre stage as Real Madrid widen the gap

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La Liga is never predictable and you can never tell what is next around the corner, but debates about refereeing decisions are almost always guaranteed. This weekend they took on a more spectacular form than ever with Gerard Pique christening the newly named Villarreal stadium Estadio de Ceramica, or El Madrigal, as it was previously known, by jestering and shouting towards the directors’ box, reportedly aiming his criticisms at La Liga boss Javier Tebas.

Pique’s criticisms were well founded too, with Bruno Soriano twice blatantly handling in the box to deny goalscoring opportunities, with Javier Mascherano also guilty of blocking a shot with his arm in his own box. It only infuriated Barcelona further after midweek refereeing controversy in Bilbao and it was even worse when Nicola Sansone gave the Yellow Submarine the lead just after half-time. The game had been fairly even but Barca dominated after that despite failing to find a way through until a remarkable Lionel Messi free-kick in injury time.

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Real Madrid were busy too, taking their unbeaten run to 39 games as they thrashed lowly Granada by five goals to nil, with Isco twice on the scoresheet alongside an offside Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo and surprisingly, holding midfielder Casemiro. The result puts Real four points clear of the chasing pack with a game in hand, which seems like an increasingly insurmountable lead for a side who are on such a rich vein of form.

Perhaps the surprise of the season is who is their closest challenger in second, as Barcelona’s draw allowed Sevilla to move above them with an impressive 4-0 win over Real Sociedad, who themselves have performed above and beyond expectations. A hat-trick for Wissam Ben Yedder, linked with the likes of West Ham and Everton in the summer, was enough to put them on their way as Jorge Sampaoli continues to show his tactical expertise.

Atletico Madrid kept up the pace in fourth with a fairly routine win on the road to Eibar thanks in part to Antoine Griezmann’s first goal in over two months, and Athletic Bilbao failed to make the most of Real Sociedad’s loss by only managing a draw against Alaves.

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At the other end of the table, Monday night’s game saw bottom side Osasuna welcome crisis club Valencia. Los Che desperately needed something to smile about and it looked as though they may have it when Munir opened the scoring in the second minute. Martin Montoya had to score in the second half to give the side the lead for the third time after twice being pegged back by La Liga’s worst club this season, but Carlos Clerc bundled in with the last touch of the game to mean that the two sides shared the spoils only minutes after Dani Parejo missed a penalty.

Sporting Gijon were also held firmly in the bottom three thanks to defeat at Las Palmas, whilst Leganes also failed to pick up points as they were beaten by Real Betis. That allowed Deportivo to climb above them though as the Galicians secured an impressive point against Espanyol in Barcelona, with los Pericos now only having suffered one defeat, at the Camp Nou, since September.

Full list of results from Matchday 17:

Villarreal 1-1 Barcelona

Real Madrid 5-0 Granada

Real Sociedad 0-4 Sevilla

Eibar 0-2 Atletico Madrid

Athletic Bilbao 0-0 Alaves

Osasuna 3-3 Valencia

Espanyol 1-1 Deportivo

Las Palmas 1-0 Sporting Gijon

Real Betis 2-0 Leganes

Celta de Vigo 3-1 Malaga

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