La Liga round-up: Lewandowski shines for Barca, Madrid keep up the pressure, Atletico stutter | OneFootball

Barcelona and Real Madrid emerged victorious on Matchday 29 of La Liga, continuing their relentless battle in a thrilling title race.

Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid’s title aspirations took another hit after being held to a draw against Espanyol.

Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna played out a stalemate, while Real Betis prevailed in the Seville derby.

Let’s take a brief look at some of the results in La Liga over the weekend.

Atletico pegged back by strugglers Espanyol

Atletico’s title dreams slipped further away following their 1-1 draw against Espanyol, leaving them without a win in their last three games.

Diego Simeone’s side had a chance to get back in the title hunt, but they produced another lacklustre performance against 16th-placed Espanyol.

Cesar Azpilicueta put Atletico ahead before half-time with a thunderous volley, but they shot themselves in the foot by conceding a penalty in the second half.

Clement Lenglet was the culprit, as he committed an erratic foul by bringing down Espanyol defender Leandro Cabrara.

Javi Puado made no mistake from the spot to snatch a point against the Colchoneros.

The draw left Atletico six points behind Madrid in third place and nine points adrift of leaders Barcelona.

Mbappe’s heroics save Madrid’s blushes

Kylian Mbappe inspired Madrid to a thrilling 3-2 comeback win against relegation-threatened Leganes, keeping up the pressure on Barcelona in the title race.

The Frenchman scored a panenka penalty kick to put Los Blancos ahead but Diego Garcia equalised for the visitors two minutes later.

Leganes looked more dangerous and took the lead through Dani Raba before the half-time whistle.

The La Liga champions responded with a goal from Jude Bellingham shortly after the break before Mbappe scored a stunning free-kick to complete the turnaround.

The French forward has now scored 32 goals in all competitions this season.

Lewandowski leads Barca to a dominant win against Girona

Pressure was mounting on Barca following Real’s victory over Leganes and the fact they had to play Girona in the space of less than three days following their win over Osasuna.

However, they showed no signs of struggle on the pitch, thrashing their Catalan neighbours 4-1 to extend their impressive unbeaten streak this year.

Barca took the lead shortly before half-time after Lamine Yamal’s freekick took a huge deflection off Ladislav Krejci before rolling into the net.

Girona handed the home side a scare after Arnaut Danjuma equalised following a swift move after the break.

Lewandowski scored an acrobatic flick to put Barca on the front foot again. He fired a precise strike into the bottom left corner following Frenkie de Jong’s assist to take the game away from Girona.

Ferran Torres continued his rich vein of form as a super-sub by scoring the winning strike.

The victory helped Barca go three points clear at the top ahead of Madrid.

Bilbao draw, Betis mount stunning comeback

Athletic failed to close the gap on third-placed Atletico after sharing the spoils in a goalless draw against Osasuna.

Real Betis produced an impressive 2-1 comeback win against Sevilla in the Sevilla derby.

Ruben Vargas put Garcia Pimenta’s side ahead before Johnny Cardoso equalised with a great volley.

Cucho Hernandez completed the turnaround on the stroke of half-time, netting Isco’s brilliant assist.

The victory helped Betis move level on points with fifth-placed Villarreal, and they are only six points off the final Champions League spot.

Villarreal defeated Getafe 2-1, thanks to strikes from Ayoze Perez and Thierno Barry, to continue their push for a top-four finish.

Valencia produced a crucial 1-0 win against Real Mallorca to distance themselves from the relegation zone.

Bottom-placed Real Valladolid lost 3-1 to Real Sociedad. Their chances of survival are looking wafer-thin.

Alaves failed to move away from the drop zone after suffering a 2-0 loss against Rayo Vallecano.