Everything is still up for grabs, but mainly relegation Hercules and Almeria are done with 10 teams now separated by 5 points (with 9 remaining) from the final relegation spot. This may be the most compelling relegation battle in La Liga for some time. Deportivo being in the drop zone is truly sad when you consider they were vying for the league only 6-7 years ago. I really can’t make a call on this battle at this point. Ronaldo netted four goals to take him two above Messi in the Pichichi race. It Barça wins or ties their next match at Levante they’ll win the La Liga title. Speaking of scoring Soldado and Júlio Baptista kept their scoring form. My prediction for next week is that they’ll each score again. In case you forgot there are games this Tuesday and Wednesday. Here’s what happened last week.

Hercules 2-3 Racing | Basterrechea 40',Gomes 43',Dos Santos 14',41',Henrique 45'
Valencia 3-0 R Sociedad | Soldado 16',37', Jonas 25'
Getafe 2-0 Almeria | Colunga 5', Pedro Ríos 52'
Sporting Gijón 2-2 Deportivo | Ayoze p35', Barral p35', Adrián 9',40'
Athletic 3-2 Levante | Toquero 30', López p47', Llorente 63', Stuani 77', Nano 85'
Atlético 0-3 Málaga | Rondon 29', Baptista 35', Maresca 84'
Sevilla 2-6 R Madrid | Negredo 61',84', Ramos 21',Ronaldo 31',65',70’,75',Kaká 42'
Mallorca 0-0 Villarreal | None?
Barçalona 2-0 Espanyol | Iniesta 29', Piqué 47'
R Zaragoza 1-3 Osasuna | Lafita 14', Camuñas 62', Sergio 70', Sola 80'

Table

1. Barçalona (91) 1 point gets them the title. 9 of 9 points gets the record of 100.
2. Real Madrid (83) It’s all about Ronaldo in the Pichichi race now.
3. Valencia (66) Madrid could have used Soldado against Barça in the El Clasicos.
4. Villarreal (61) Their UCL spot is not guaranteed because...
5. Athletic Bilbao (54) Bibao keeps winning.
6. Sevilla (52) Ouch! Madrid hurt! Negredo, another Madrid product doing well.
7. Atlético (52) Still Europa league spot because Barça and Madrid in Copa del Ray.
8. Espanyol (48) Europa League is not out of question to catch Atlético.
9. Sporting Gijón (43) Oddly at #9 they are only 5 points from the drop zone.
10. Levante (43) Don’t expect any points this week from Barça?
11. Mallorca (43) Draw with Villarreal is a good result in a right relegation battle.
12. Racing Santander (43) Win pretty much relegates Herucles.
13. Málaga (42) Júlio Baptista scores again and Málaga wins again.
14. Osasuna (41) Their last two wins really opened-up the relegation battle.
15. Real Sociedad (41) They follow-up Barça win with Valencia loss.
16. Getafe (40) Almeria win was must-have and was.
17. R Zaragoza (39) Does loss to Osasuna mean free fall?
18. Deportivo (39) Draw at Gijón, usually good result, but got Depor in zone.
19. Hercules (33) Loss at Málaga leaves little room to avoid the drop?
20. Almeria (26) One more loss and they are relegated.

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.