After another busy round of fixtures in Spain, here is a round-up of the league that includes 13 of the shortlist of players to win the Ballon D’or.

The Big Two

No La Liga conversation is complete without reference to Real Madrid and Barcelona, and this is where our review starts. Despite surprise package Levante topping the table for the first few rounds of La Liga, their bubble has now been burst somewhat and all attention is back on the top two. Real, under the Special One are in scintillating form, scoring for fun and managing to keep clean sheets to boot. Both Higuain and Benzema are on fire, giving Mourinho the dilemma of his life when picking his starting striker. Add to this the form of Ronaldo and the resurgence of one Kaka, and the fact that Real can now offer solutions when Xabi Alonso is effectively man marked during games, they are looking more than a match for Barca.

Of course they went into the first Classico and mauling one point ahead of their fierce rivals, so Barca will not be unduly worried. However, one thing that Real have in their locker this season is the ability to grind out a 1 – 0 win – something that was lacking last season during games where teams effectively parked the bus in front of their goal and closed down Alonso. This was shown on the weekend where Sociedad literally played with a back five at the Anoeta, yet Madrid scored early courtesy of Higuain and held on for a hard fought win. Not a vintage Madrid performance but one that shows how far they have come under Mourinho.

Regardless of Los Blancos topping the table by as point, most people’s favourites for the La Liga crown is reigning champions Barcelona, who looked back to their best at the Camp Nou, with Messi making a clear signal to fans and the media with his goal celebration after his hat trick – the prolific striker had failed to score in 3 games yet after being played in his preferred position down the centre not the dreaded wing for the game, with Barca putting a grand total of 5 past a hapless Mallorca.

The Surprise of the season

Most people thought that the team wearing blue and red stripes would be the ones to top la liga throughout the season, and they have been for the past few rounds – yet it was Levante not  Barcelona doing this. Levante have been everyone’s surprise of the season and have looked to be living some sort of footballing fairy tale thus far, before this weekend being unbeaten, even being able to claim a victory over Mourinho’s men at the Ciudad de Valencia.

In players such as Sergio Ballesteros, Valencia have a core of seasoned professionals who offer much more to the team than their average age would suggest, and new coach Martinez settling into life at Levante quicker than anyone could have expected.

However this weekend the bubble was somewhat burst with a 2 – 0 defeat at the hands of Osasuna. Several things were said after the game – Martinez praised his players for their unbeaten run, the media inevitably predicted a rapid slide down the table to mimic that of Espanyol last season and it was noted that due to their small squad who are mostly the wrong side of thirty, a couple of injuries and suspensions will have serious effects on the team from Valencia. Yet should they take the lead, especially at home, Levante are dogged in their defending and whilst they are probably not going to finish in the European places, they should manage to avoid the relegation fight they were involved in last tie round.

The best of the rest

Valencia – after a  slightly slow start, Valencia are picking up pace, and have been fast climbing the table. They now occupy 4^th place after the weekend’s victory and have their eye on the third place that is currently held by local rivals Levante. After losing their three best players – Villa, Silva and Mata over the last couple of seasons, huge amounts of credit has to be given to long-time coach – well for a league famous for waving white handkerchiefs at Managers, being at the helm since 2008 is a long time – Unai Emery, who has weathered all of this and still managed to keep Valencia widely viewed as the ‘best of the rest’.

Sevilla – Currently sitting in 5^th place, there is now a gap opening up between the top four and the rest after a shock victory for Granada at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. In a season full of surprises, this can be put down to a bad day at the office for Sevilla who next up face  a flailing Mallorca side and will expect to bounce back and take all three points.

Atletico Madrid – one side who expect to e doing much better are the second best team in Madrid, Atletico, who fully expect to be sat in the top four. However, after a poor start to the season they sit 10^th, with a sizeable gap between themselves and the champion’s league places. After a good victory against Zaragoza, Atletico will be looking to this as a kick-start to their season.  With few goals scored this season and fan protests calling for Aragonez to return, the pressure on Gregorio Manzano has been alleviated slightly, yet improvements are vital.

Malaga – the Andalucians were the team that, after a huge influx of money then players, not to mention coach Manuel Pellagrini were everyone’s favourites to break into the top four this season. However this, so far, has not come to pass, and Malaga have been struggling, and were so lucky against Espanyol receiving a penalty for a very dubious handball and do not seem to be gelling quite in the way they should be.

The relegation Battle

Getafe sit rock bottom and after a heavy loss last weekend things look no brighter with local rivals Atletico up next. A shock victory for Granada gave them much needed points, yet the newly promoted Andalucians need to improve their form and fast if they don’t want to go straight back down.  The final club to occupy a spot in the bottom 3 is Racing, and the victory by a single goal over Betis cannot be underestimated in importance. Hector Cuper and his team will be looking to now climb the table, starting with the away tie at Granada next round.

Whilst Betis and Rayo have made decent starts, only 4 points separate both these promoted sides from the relegation zones, and they are still in danger and will be looking over their shoulders until a real gap is formed.

Villarreal – after a vital 2 – 0 win over Rayo this weekend, despite the missed penalty from skipper Marcos Senna, the yellow submarines have shot up the table and out of the relegation zone to 13^th.  With an European campaign still to worry about, not to mention keeping their head above the relegation zone, Garrido has his work cut out for him.

The bottom half of the table is so tight, with only 5 points separating rock bottom Getafe and 11^th placed Rayo, so anyone who has a poor run of form or can piece together a run of victories can drastically change their fortunes so early on in the season.

Game of Next round –  Levante v Valencia

3^rd play host to 4^th in a real test of Levante’s credentials. A must see.

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Nevertheless, Sevilla have taken the opportunity to spruik their new manager in a press conference on Tuesday, welcoming the 45-year-old as the successor to Gregorio Manzano.

“I believe we have a coach for the long term. It’s the first time I have drawn up a contract like Marcelino’s,” club president Jose Maria del Nido said.

“He is signing for one season with an option for two more depending on results.”

Manzano was let go by the club at the conclusion of the last campaign, which saw Sevilla finish fifth on the table and miss out on a Champions League berth by four points.

Meanwhile, Luis Garcia has rescinded his contract after three seasons with Levante, freeing him up for a rumoured move to Getafe.

Garcia led Levante back to the top-flight for the first time in three years in 2009/10, and earned plaudits for keeping the club aloft in the most recent campaign.

Now, the 38-year-old has reportedly agreed to pay Levante one million euro so he can defect to Getafe, who sacked Michel after narrowly avoiding relegation.

“Luis Garcia, coach of Levante the past three seasons, has today cut his ties with our club,” said a statement on Levante’s website.

Getafe President Angel Torres told Spanish media: “We are going to offer him (Garcia) a three-year contract. He is a young coach with character and he done things very well at Levante.”

But they went one better, with a goal in the 55th minute from Argentine midfielder Leonardo Ponzio securing three vital points that to move Zaragoza one point behind Deportivo.

Javier Aguirre’s Zaragoza are away to Levante on the last day of the season next Sunday, with Deportivo at home to Valencia.

Getafe are 16th and one point clear of the drop after they won 2-0 at home to Osasuna.

The defeat leaves Osasuna still in trouble at two points outside the bottom three, in 13th place.

Mallorca, in 14th, are another team that could go down on the final day after they lost 3-1 away to relegated Almeria.

Levante managed a point with a 0-0 draw away to third-placed Valencia.

In what makes for a nervy finish to the season, 12th-placed Levante are one of seven teams that could join Almeria and Hercules in the second tier next season.

In other matches, Real Madrid defeated Villarreal 3-1 away from home.

Real’s Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo netted twice in the victory to take his tally to 38 league goals for the season, equalling the all-time Spanish top-flight record.

He is now seven ahead of Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and on course to collect the Pichichi trophy for the La Liga top scorer.

Sevilla could yet secure Europa League qualification after beating Real Sociedad 3-1.

Former Tottenham striker Frederic Kanoute struck twice in the home win for Sevilla, which sees them join sixth-placed Athletic Bilbao and fifth-placed Atletico Madrid on 55 points.

Bilbao drew 1-1 at home to Malaga while Atletico won 2-1 at home to relegated Hercules, with ex-Arsenal forward Jose Antonio Reyes scoring the winner.

Sporting Gijon came from a goal down to beat fellow mid-table side Racing Santander 2-1.

Real have second spot sewn up but they travel to meet fourth-placed Villarreal who need to claim full points if they are to have any chance of catching Valencia and securing automatic Champions League qualification.

Although Jose Mourinho’s team have little to play for but pride, they still want to finish the season with two more wins.

“The coach has asked us to finish the league by winning our games and we will try to do that,” said star striker Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored 36 goals for the season, just two behind the all-time record of 38 set by Athletico Bilbao’s Telmo Zarra in 1951 and Real’s Hugo Sanchez in 1990.

Villarreal are five points behind Valencia and are already guaranteed fourth spot and a place in the qualifiers, which looks like their most likely path to glory with Valencia needing only a point from their home clash with mid-table Levante to be sure of third.

Most of the action centres on the tussle for fifth and sixth place, and the Europa League places that go with them.

Athletic Bilbao are in fifth on 54 points, trailed by Sevilla (52), Atletico Madrid (52) while Espanyol (49) are also still in the mix.

Espanyol travel to Real Zaragoza, who need a win to escape the bottom three, while Bilbao will be looking to rebound from their 2-1 loss at Deportivo on Tuesday.

Atletico have the easiest match of all four Europa League contenders, taking on the already-relegated Hercules at home.

Getafe are just one point outside the drop zone, but will have to beat an Osasuna side who are riding a hot streak of form.

Osasuna have picked up three big wins in succession – posting a 1-0 win over Valencia on May 1 before thrashing Zaragoza 3-1 a week later and then coming from 2-0 down to beat Sevilla on Wednesday.

Sporting Gijon are still an outside chance to go down, and they play host to Racing Santander, while only pride will be on the line when Almeria – who are already relegated – tackle mid-table Mallorca.

Athletic Bilbao – who could have all-but stitched up a Europa League spot with victory – took a third-minute lead when striker Gaizka Toquero finished crisply past former team-mate Daniel Aranzubia in the Deportivo goal.

But led by playmaker Juan Carlos Valeron, Deportivo found a way back into the match on 22 minutes when Adrian Lopez’s shot was deflected into his own net by Athletic midfielder Carlos Gurpegi.

Fernando Llorente hit the crossbar with a trademark header shortly before half-time, while the two sides traded efforts when the second half got underway.

But Deportivo was to claim all three points when Athletic defender Castillo only succeeded in sliding an Adrian cross past goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz as he attempted to clear.

The win puts Deportivo three points above the relegation zone with two games of the season remaining.

Elsewhere, Cristiano Ronaldo took his goal tally in all competitions this season to 49 courtesy of another hat-trick – this time in a 4-0 win over struggling Getafe at the Bernabeu.

Ronaldo’s treble was completed with of a 90th-minute penalty, with Karim Bezema having poked home in the 77th minute with his first touch of the game to put Real 3-0 up.

Real remain second and five points behind league-leaders Barcelona, while Getafe are just one point above the drop zone.

Atletico Madrid failed to do themselves any favours in their bid for Europa League football next season after losing 2-1 at Racing Santander.

Atletico took an 11th-minute lead through Mario Suarez, but goals either side of half-time from Swedish duo Kennedy Bakircioglu and Markus Rosenberg handed Racing the win.

They move to ninth on the table, while Atletico are in sixth and have Sevilla lurking just goal difference away.

In a match that meant little for either end of the table, Julio Baptista and Eliseu struck to propel Malaga to a 2-0 home win over Sporting Gijon.

Brazilian playmaker Kaka also got on the scoresheet for Real, as did defender Sergio Ramos, who powered Madrid into the lead after 21 minutes with a header, while Alvaro Negredo scored both goals for Sevilla.

The result means Real trail Barca by five points and have three matches remaining, although Barca have four games to play and take on Espanyol at the Nou Camp on Sunday.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Athletic Bilbao climbed into fifth place – which would guarantee them a place in next year’s Europa League – with a 3-2 win over Levante at home.

Goals from Gaizka Toquero, David Lopez and Fernando Llorente had Bilbao cruising at 3-0 just after the hour mark but late strikes from Christian Stuani and Victoriano Nano ensured some anxious moments for the hosts in the closing stages.

Atletico Madrid’s grip on sixth place looks tenuous after they were thrashed 3-0 at home by Malaga, who had goals from Rondon, Julio Baptista and Enzo Maresca to thank for their fourth successive league win.

On-loan Spurs midfielder Giovani dos Santos scored a brace to help Racing Santander take a big step towards La Liga survival with a 3-2 win at Hercules, who look certain to face the drop.

Almeria were not so fortunate, and their 2-0 loss at Getafe confirmed a relegation that has looked likely for much of the campaign.

Sporting Gijon had a late penalty from David Barral to earn them a 2-2 draw at home against Deportivo La Coruna, while Valencia moved six points clear of third-placed Villarreal – who play on Sunday – with a 3-0 home win over Real Sociedad.

Roberto Soldado scored twice for the hosts, and Brazilian striker Jonas scored the other.

Hercules went down to 10 men in the 66th minute when Argentine Matias Fritzler received a second yellow.

Malaga passed up a chance to take the lead when midfielder Apono missed a penalty on 68 minutes, but they were in front four minutes later when Venezuelan forward Rondon found the back of the net.

Baptista struck his second and Malaga’s third on 76 minutes to make it 3-1, the win lifting Malaga up to 15th, four points clear of the relegation zone.

Hercules remain second from bottom and are now four points adrift of safety.

Elsewhere, Racing Santander put distance between themselves and the relegation battle courtesy of a valuable 2-0 win at home to Mallorca.

First-half goals from Swedish duo Markus Rosenberg and Kennedy Bakircioglu secured the points for hosts Racing, with Ivan Ramis missing a penalty for the visitors at Estadio El Sardinero.

The win sees Racing climb to 13th, five points clear of the drop zone.

Bottom side Almeria are now 11 points from safety after they lost 1-0 at home to Sevilla.

Brazil midfielder Renato scored the winner for Sevilla in the 58th minute.

Almeria had already been reduced to 10 men after Danish defender Michael Jakobsen received his marching orders seven minutes into the second half.

Getafe are now just two points clear of the relegation zone after they lost 2-1 away to Villarreal.

The visitors led at the break thanks to Pedro Rios’ first-half effort, but Cani levelled for Villarreal before Giuseppe Rossi struck to secure the points for the home side.

Levante were held to a 0-0 draw at home by fellow mid-table side Sporting Gijon.

You would imagine this would put an enormous strain on a man to have this hanging over you. Imagine being sat at work knowing that the press are constantly running stories about you losing your job in a couple of months. And yet you have to carry on as normal, as if nothing has happened. You have to inspire your workforce, you have to make them believe that there is an incentive to try their hardest. You have to face the press and answer questions about your future and pretend that it is not affecting you.

But Ancelotti does not look too stressed to me. Resigned to fate perhaps, the eyebrow is still permanently arched after all, but he seems no different otherwise. And you have to wonder if being sacked as a football manager is as bad an experience as it used to be.

Being sacked always presented two immediate problems. Financially, you were out of work and needed to find a new income in a market with limited opportunities. And secondly, and linked to the first point, being sacked would not look good on anyone’s CV, so that made finding another job rather more difficult.

Whilst nothing has changed for some of those managers that operate in the lower leagues, for many managers towards the upper echelons of the game, such concerns often don’t apply anymore.

Firstly, getting sacked is no longer an automatic sign of failure or lack of ability. When Jose Mourinho can be forced out of Chelsea, then anyone is fair game. Ancelotti, should he wish, will walk into another job, and will have a near-endless line of suitors. If Roberto Mancini were to be sacked by Manchester City in the summer (unlikely), he too could find a new job without any fuss, and could probably get his dream job at Juventus right now, if reports are to be believed. Roy Hodgson had a nightmare at Liverpool, but walked into another job, admittedly at a “smaller” club.

Often of course, a manager is never officially sacked. They leave posts “by mutual consent”, effectively taking a nice pay-off in return for their silence. I have Manchester City supporting friends who still to this day maintain that Sven Goran Eriksson was not sacked by Thaksin Shinawatra – after all, he left by mutual consent. He has spoken since about his dismay at being dismissed.

And the financial side means that few top managers are left on the scrapheap. Nice payoffs and gardening leave mean the mortgage on that beach-front mansion is taken care off, and there’s always the opportunity of some media work whilst they consider their next move.

Nowadays, megalomaniac club owners are as common as Alex Ferguson media blackouts. Is it really damaging to be relieved of your job by a man who thinks he could run the first team himself (like Dmitry Pietrman did at Racing Santander), wants his son playing up front or thinks it might be a good idea to hire a female player (see Luciano Gaucci at Perugia)? And if you play in a stadium whose name is also the name of the owner, don’t worry, you’ll be fine if he sacks you (Mr Madejski, I’ll leave you out of this).

If your owner is really mental, you could be sacked and back in the job pretty quickly anyway. A couple of weeks ago, Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini sacked Serse Cosmi after a run of poor results – Cosmi was only appointed at the end of February. His replacement is Delio Rossi – the man who preceded Cosmi. Stan Flashman sacked and re-hired Barry Fry eight times at Barnet, and this excludes Fry’s first managerial stint at the club.

Sometimes, if not most of the time, the fans do not help. If Manchester City can learn one thing from their history, it is that changing managers every year achieves little. And yet recently there were still those that thought that Mancini should go, and City should get someone else in, and start the rebuilding cycle all over again, until he has a bad month and then people will want him to go, and on and on, and on. And it is this culture of replacing anyone who doesn’t succeed from the off that produces a merry-go-round but which also lines the pockets of many a manager.

Afterall, modern-day football waits around for no one. Owners and fans demand instant success, instant results. A bad two weeks is all it takes for mumblings of discontent about a manager and rumours in the press about the owner looking for a replacement. Every manager has had 3 games to save his job, as if someone’s entire ability can be judged from a fortnight of results. Rare is the Alex Ferguson or the Arsene Wenger that stays at one club, for many a year. Abroad it’s even worse. Jesus Gil at Atletico Madrid got through as many coaches as Manchester United and Liverpool have ever had combined. Real Madrid have sacked a league winning coach. No one is safe. But it does them little harm, because there’ll almost always be another owner waiting in the wings to give them another chance, and the endless cycle continues.

Listen to the third episode of our brand new podcast – The Football FanCast.

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Featuring Razor Ruddock, Gary O’Reilly and singer/songwriter Alistair Griffin, who performs a live version of his cult tribute to Mark Viduka, with Razor on backing vocals!

In a blow for the reigning champions, defender Adriano has been ruled out of action for four weeks after injuring a hamstring in the cup defeat.

Osasuna are sure to be fighting tooth and nail, having lost their past three matches to leave them sitting just two points outside the drop zone in 16th position.

Real Madrid kept their slim title chances alive thanks to a late penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo that salvaged them a 1-1 draw against Barca at the Bernabeu last weekend, and they will face another stern test on Saturday against third-placed Valencia.

Saturday’s other match pits fifth-placed Athletic Bilbao against 12th-placed Real Sociedad who are just five points clear of the bottom three.

Bilbao are in pole position for one of two Europa League places for next season, and they have a two-point cushion over sixth-placed Sevilla and Atletico Madrid, with eighth-placed Espanyol a further point behind.

On Sunday, Atletico – the 2009-10 Europa League champions – take on a Levante side who have won eight of their past 12 games to sit in ninth place, while Sevilla welcome fourth-placed Villarreal to the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.

Espanyol face a tricky trip to Sporting Gijon and Getafe travel to Mallorca.

At the bottom of the table, a loss for Almeria at Real Zaragoza would make their La Liga survival incredibly difficult, while second bottom Hercules host Deportivo La Coruna.

Malaga, who are outside the drop zone by just goal difference, travel to Racing Santander.

Pep Guardiola’s side dismantled Real 5-0 during their first meeting at the Camp Nou in November.

A victory in the corresponding fixture at the Bernabeu could see them stretch their advantage to a near-unassailable 11 points.

And with only six matches of the season remaining after this round, it would make Barca overwhelming favourites to collect their third consecutive championship crown.

But the title race is one only part of a fascinating series of matches between the two arch-rivals.

On Wednesday they contest the Copa del Rey final at Valencia’s Estadio Mestalla, before meeting over two legs of the Champions League semi-final in the last week of April and first week of May.

Elsewhere in La Liga, bottom club Almeria have a daunting assignment at home to third-placed Valencia, who thrashed immediate rivals Villarreal 5-0 last weekend.

Almeria went down 3-1 away to Barca after taking a surprise lead early in the second half at the Camp Nou.

They are four points adrift of second bottom Malaga and seven points away from safety.

Malaga have an opportunity to climb above third-from-last Hercules and draw level with 17th-placed Real Zaragoza when they are in action at home to mid-table Mallorca.

Also on Saturday, Sevilla travel to Getafe with their hopes of securing a Champions League qualification berth fading.

Gregorio Manzano’s side are fifth, eight points behind fourth-placed Villarreal, who do not play until Monday, when they host Zaragoza.

In Sunday’s matches, Hercules will hope to continue their survival bid when they travel to Levante.

Deportivo La Coruna are at home to Racing Santander, Sporting Gijon travel to face Real Sociedad and Osasuna await the visit of Athletic Bilbao.

Atletico Madrid, seventh in the table but level on points with sixth-placed Bilbao, are away at Espanyol.