With five match weeks left in La Liga, this is the time to take a look at the relegation battle. Real Madrid probably won’t catch Barcelona. Athletic Bilbao will need to win-out and have Villarreal really tank in the league to have any change in the Champions League spots. There is three team battle for Europa League spots with Bilbao, Sevilla, and Atlético Madrid. But what really intrigues me is that right now there are nine teams at least within six points of the drop zone. It’ so tight, you could see 19 teams with forty or more points. Take a look at the table below.

Table

1. Barcelona (88) Three wins gets the La Liga title.
2. Real Madrid (80) Although 2^nd on table, may have UCL momentum advantage.
3. Valencia (63) Probably safe in a UCL spot, but Athletic has eyes on UCL too.
4. Villarreal (57) Can they win Europa League and keep UCL spot for next year?
5. Athletic (51) They are going to make it interesting for Valencia and Villarreal.
6. Sevilla (49) This week’s win was a week or two too late for UCL hopes.
7. Atlético (49) Sevilla better watch themselves. Agüero’s on fire.
8. Espanyol (45) Won’t catch Sevilla or Atlético. Time to continue playing youth.
9. Mallorca (42) Watch them slide next few weeks. Not much to play for.
10. Levante (42) They are probably safe now. Great 1^st season back in La Liga.
11. Sporting (41) Safe? Don’t be so sure. Only 6 points from drop zone.
12. Real Sociedad (38) Tough loss in Basque derby. 4 points from safety.
13. Deportivo (38) Loss to Hercules really hurt. They really need to right the ship.
14. Getafe (37) Loss to Mallorca? That needs to be a win if they want to stay up.
15. Racing (37) Málaga wanted it more. Need to go .500 to survive now.
16. Málaga (36) Will Baptista’s momentum continue carry them up?
17. R Zaragoza (36) Critical win this week. They need 2 wins in five to survive..
18. Osasuna (35) There last 5 games pretty much means relegation.
19. Hercules (33) Win at La Coruña means there is a chance…like Dumb & Dumber?
20. Almeria (26) Can they win 5 in a row? No.

But, does Sporting Gijon have much to worry about six points clear of Osasuna considering Osasuna’s current form of four losses in a row and probably the most difficult schedule of the nine teams. No, I doubt it. Thing is though, only four teams have let in less goals that Osasuna’s 41. I like my chances in a scrap with the scrappier team. It’s worth it to take a look to see how these nine teams will close out the season. Below, we have the predicted season ending points and last five games for all those that should be worried about relegation.

Almeria (26 pts)
@ Sevilla (L)
Getafe (L)
@ Villarreal (L)
@ Mallorca (L)
Real Madrid (L)

Hercules (39 pts)
Malaga (L)
Racing (L)
Mallocra (W)
@ Atlético Madrid (L)
Sporting Gijon (W)

Osasuna (40 pts)
Valencia (D)
@ Real Zaragoza (L)
Sevilla (L)
@ Getafe (D)
Villarreal (W)

Real Zaragoza (43 pts)
@ Real Madrid (L)
Osasuna (W)
@ Real Sociedad (D)
Espanyol (W)
@ Levante (L)

Málaga (42 pts)
Hercules (W)
Atlético Madrid (L)
Sporting Gijon (W)
@ Athletic Bilbao (L)
@ Barcelona (L)

Racing Santander (43 pts)
Mallorca (W)
@ Hercules (W)
Atlético Madrid (L)
Sporting Gijon (L)
Athletic Bilbao (L)

Getafe (41 pts)
@ Villarreal (L)
Almeria (W)
Real Madrid (L)
Osasuna (D)
Real Sociedad (L)

Deportivo (42 pts)
Atlético Madrid (L)
Sporting Gijon (D)
Athletic Bilbao (L)
@ Barcelona (L)
Valencia (W)

Real Sociedad (42 pts)
FC Barcelona (L)
@ Valencia (L)
@ Real Zaragoza (D)
Sevilla (L)
Getafe (W)

Sporting Gijon (45 pts)
@ Levante (L)
Deportivo (D)
@ Malaga (L)
Racing Santander (W)
Hercules (L)

Well, it looks like we’ll still see Osasuna, Hercules, and Almeria going down. Something to take note of though, is that a lot will be riding on the final week. Deportivo and Real Sociedad will probably be fighting off Osasuna and Hercules until the bitter end.  What happened this week? This is what happened this week.

Scores

Real Zaragoza vs. Almeria| Diego Alves (o70')
Atlético 4-1 Levante | Elias (19'), Agüero (50 & 70'), Munua (o84'), Caicedo (39')
Hercules 1-0 Deportivo La Coruña| Tiago Gomes (60')
Racing Santander 1-2 Málaga | Baptista (32'), Fernández (35'), Rosenberg (73')
Sporting Gijon 1-0 Espanyol | Nacho Novo (71')
Mallorca 2-0 Getafe | Nunes (25'), Akihiro Ienaga (67')
Barcelona 2-0 Osasuna | David Villa (24'), Lionel Messi (87')

Valencia 3-6 Real Madrid | Soldado (60'), Jonas (80'), Alba (84'),  Benzema (23'), Gonzalo Higuaín (31', 42', & 53') Kaká (39' & 62')

Sevilla 3-2 Villarreal | Rakitic (9'), Negredo (14'), Romaric (62'), Marchena (56'), Rossi (73')

Stephen Kuzner is a Baltimore-based Blogger for WorldFootballDaily.com who specializes in La Liga. You can reach him on Facebook at facebook.com/BarcaBlogger or Twitter at @twitter.com/BarcaBlogger.