Girona closed the gap on Real Madrid when they beat Rayo Vallecano on Monday night.
Carlo Ancelotti's side won on Sunday thanks to the old master Luka Modric scoring from the bench, sealing a 1-0 victory over Sergio Ramos and Sevilla.
Girona’s win put them back in front of a revived Barcelona who thrashed Getafe on Saturday. Elsewhere, Rafa Benitez' team blew a lead in minute 100 and Real Sociedad fell further away from the top four.
Here are 11 things we learned from the weekend’s games in Spain.
WARNING - GRAPHIC CONTENT BELOW
Get well soon Guadalupe
It was a bad week for injuries to match officials. Guadalupe Porras was running the line at the Benito Villamarín during Betis v Athletic Club when she ran into a camera that it seems had moved to the touchline to get closer to a goal celebration.
She suffered a bloody head wound and concussion and could not continue.
Isidro Díaz also had to be replaced in the second half of Real Madrid’s win over Sevilla with what looked like a calf strain.
Girona's Champions League dream so close now
It sums up Girona’s attitude this season that after they thrashed Rayo Vallecano 3-0 on Monday night the thing that seemed to most delight coach Michel is that they are back to being La Liga’s top scorers with 57 goals.
The ultra-positive side from Catalonia also went back second with the win and are now 10 points clear of fifth.
Next season’s Champions League looks closer than ever for the City Group slickers. It’s just a shame they’ll lose Savinho to City in the summer - he scored twice in the win.
Lord Bellingham sorely missed
Real Madrid have scored just three goals in their last three games.
It’s not affected them too much – one draw and two 1-0 wins – but there is no doubt that are missing Jude Bellingham, ‘Lord Bellingham’ as one Marca columnist referred to him.
He remains La Liga’s top scorer despite having been out since February 10.
Someone should buy Modric before he quits Europe
Luka Modric scored for Real Madrid on Sunday aged 38 years and 169 days.
Only Ferenc Puskas aged 38 years and 233 days has scored in La Liga with more miles on the clock.
Madrid will not offer him a new deal at the end of this season.
If he wants to continue playing in Europe there should be a queue of clubs to give him a one-year deal this summer.
Hypocrisy over VAR only makes things worse
Real Madrid complained about a first half goal ruled out for a previous foul by Nacho.
Apparently VAR should not be putting every move, ahead of every goal, under the microscope. Fair enough.
But Madrid weren’t saying that when Almeria had a goal ruled out against them earlier in the season for a foul on Bellingham in the build-up.
Part of the problem is that no one complains with any consistency – if it benefits your team it’s good; if not, it’s bad.
Champions League strain takes it toll on Real Sociedad
Real Sociedad started this season in the Champions League, they might start the next one in the Conference.
They lost again on Friday and are now seventh, 12 points from fourth. It’s a reminder of how hard it is for smaller clubs to cope with being in the Champions League.
It could be worse – they could be Union Berlin, fifth from bottom of the Bundesliga.
The stats say Xavi has a point
They laughed at Xavi when he first said that he’d been proved right quitting mid-season because the team had been on a great run ever since.
Maybe we will have to start taking that claim more seriously. Of course he didn’t quit – he would have been fired after losing to Villarreal but he asked to stay until the summer and they let him.
But that aside, what can’t be disputed is that since then the team have won four, drawn two, and lost none.
Championship level crowds for Barcelona
What is not improving for Barcelona are the attendances in their temporary home at the Olympic Stadium.
There were 36,803 to watch them thrash Getafe, that’s a smaller crowd than Sunderland and Leeds in England’s second tier.
The Late Late Late show does for Espanyol
As comebacks go Espanyol’s at the weekend was hard to top.
The club have fallen on hard times and are trying to get back into the top division.
They were 2-1 down in minute 97 away at Eibar. But they won 3-2 with the winner coming in minute 99.
They leapfrogged a direct rival for promotion in the process.
Benitez still flirting with first ever relegation
And with an even later goal Rafa Benitez’s Celta Vigo dropped two points against direct rival Cadiz.
They were winning 2-1 but Darwin Machis scored the equalizer on minute 100.
It keeps Celta just three points above the dropzone, far from sure they will escape relegation in their centenary year.
Sport had to take back seat as Valencia mourned
Football was the last thing that mattered to Valencia this weekend as the mourned the 10 people who died in an apartment block fire on Thursday.
It was only right that their game away at Granada was postponed to be played at the start of April.