Barca leapfrog to the top in matchday 26

Matchday 26 in the Spanish BBVA Primera Liga saw FC Barcelona leapfrog Real Madrid into first place at the top of the table.

Real Madrid suffered a 1-0 defeat away to Athletic Club Bilbao on Saturday afternoon in a game decided not only by Aritz Aduriz's towering 26th minute header, but also by the team-work and spirit of the home side, who produced one of their most complete displays of the season despite injuries in central midfield and having ended their Kings Cup semi-final away to Espanyol just 68 hours before kickoff.

Real Madrid's much vaunted attacking trio of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema were nullified by the Athletic defense and the closest they came to scoring was a miss-hit cross from Bale which surprised Athletic keeper, Gorka Iraizoz and bounced back off the post.

Madrid's defeat opened the door for Barca to move into first spot and in front of the biggest crowd of the season in the Camp Nou, Luis Enrique's side made the most of a midday kick to hammer Rayo Vallecano 6-1.

Rayo had conceded 31 goals in their previous 7 games against Barca and that story was to continue on Sunday. Luis Suarez opened the scoring after just 6 minutes and although there were no further goals in the first half, the floodgates opened after the break.

Gerard Pique scored Barca's second three minutes after the break before Leo Messi netted a 12 minute hat-trick to spark widespread celebrations from the stands. Dani Alves was sent off for committing a penalty which allowed Alberto Bueno to score Rayo's consolation goal, but Suarez's second of the game rounded off the scoring.

Both Alves and Jordi Alba will both be suspended next weekend for Barca, but that means they will be available for the following week's Classico at home to Real Madrid, which looks as if it would well be a title deciding game.

The battle for third place is still wide open after Atletico Madrid and Valencia drew 1-1 in the Vicente Calderon Stadium. Koke's excellent strike put Atletico ahead in the 33rd minute, but Atletico paid for missing chances when Mustafi equalized for Valencia following a free kick with 13 minutes remaining.

The result leaves the two sides one point apart with Atletico seven points of the lead.

Sevilla also maintain their hopes of a top four finish as Vitolo was the star of their 4-3 win away to Deportivo la Coruna. The attacking midfielder scored Sevilla's first to goals and provoked the penalty which led to Kevin Gameiro scoring their third.

Deportivo had opened the scoring through Oriol Riera and he scored his side's second, but an own goal put Sevilla 4-2 ahead and Lucas Perez's injury time penalty was too late to give Deportivo the chance of sneaking a point.

Kiko Casillas' terrible mistake in sending a clearance straight to Sergio Canales allowed Canales to beat the Espanyol keeper and score the only goal of the game and give Real Sociedad a vital home win against Espanyol, while Villarreal remain in the hunt for a top six finish thanks to a convincing 4-1 home win against Celta Vigo.

The weekend also saw plenty of activity in the relegation zone where Granada scored a vital 1-0 home win against Malaga courtesy of Camacho's 57th minute own goal.

Elche piled the misery on Almeria, who have been docked three points for non-payment of a 50,000 euro debt, with a 1-0 win which came courtesy of Victor Rodriguez's sixth minute strike, while Levante inflicted a seventh consecutive defeat on Eibar as they fought back from 1-0 down with two quickfire second half goals. Endi