Four things we learned from matchday 21 in Spain

MADRID, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Matchday 21 in Spain's La Liga saw Barcelona have to dig deep to beat Alaves 2-1, while Real Madrid put four goals past Valencia. Elsewhere, Atletico Madrid sprang to life to beat Las Palmas 3-0. Here are some of the things we learned from this weekend's La Liga action.

1 Barca have to improve ahead of the Champions League

Barcelona beat an impressive Alaves 2-1 with late goals from Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi, but can count themselves fortunate as a couple of big refereeing decisions went their way.

With Messi and Suarez in the side and now the added option of Philippe Coutinho, there is no doubt that Barcelona can beat anyone, but fans will be worried by the ease with which Alaves carved through the Catalan defense at the Camp Nou. Barcelona's Champions League clash against Chelsea is right around the corner and manager Ernesto Valverde will want to plug those gaps at the back to avoid a European disappointment.

2 Are Real Madrid back on track?

Real Madrid responded to their Copa del Rey exit with a 4-1 win away to Valencia on Saturday. Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema all started and it is the second league win in two games with 'BBC' in the side.

There are still some doubts as to whether or not this is a return to form for Real Madrid. Madrid got a big helping hand in their victory in the form of Valencia defender Martin Montoya, who conceded two first half penalties. Valencia also had three central defenders out injured and one eye on their Cup semifinal against Barcelona next week.

It is clear that victories boost confidence and can lead to more wins, so Zinedine Zidane will hope that his side has finally turned a corner.

3 Deportivo are their own worst enemies

Things were looking good for Deportivo La Coruna when they were 2-0 ahead against Levante in a key game in the relegation fight.

A win would have lifted Deportivo out of the relegation zone, but before the break they were down to 10 men after Celso Borges was shown his second yellow card for using his elbow.

They held on comfortably until the 80th minute when Ivi Lopez scored the first of two goals and the game ended 2-2 to keep Deportivo in the drop zone.

It's not the first time Deportivo have self-destructed, indeed they were two goals up away to Levante earlier in the season and the same thing happened. Deportivo have the talent in their side to survive, but so far the club is making life way more difficult than it needs to be.

4 Ziganda fails to learn

The saying 'once bitten- twice shy' doesn't seem to apply to Athletic Bilbao coach Kuko Ziganda, especially in the wake of his side's 1-1 draw at home to Eibar.

Eibar deserved more from the game after bossing the second half in the San Mames Stadium. Athletic Bilbao were booed off after Ziganda's substitutions allowed Eibar to take the initiative.

Had it been the first time he had taken off attacking players to try and cling to a lead, it would have been a forgivable mistake, but it was the third time in three weeks Athletic Bilbao conceded goals while employing conservative tactics. Ziganda said afterwards that his error was to not have made the changes sooner; an answer that implies he has still not learned his lesson. Enditem