After Week 25, Real Madrid is still in first place in the La Liga standings.

For the first time this season, Real Madrid tied against their opponent. Real Madrid and Villarreal drew a 1-1 contest in Madrid. Real Madrid still gets the one point and is still in first place, but it was a disappointing tie.

Cristiano Ronaldo found the net for the 30th time this season via penalty kick. Goalkeeper Iker Casillas played very well, but his team could only manage to score one goal. Real Madrid has failed to win two of their last four games, and James Rodriguez's return is still unknown. Without the Colombian superstar, Real Madrid's offense has scored just five goals in their last four games.

Real Madrid will play Athletic Bilbao in their next game.

Without a doubt, the biggest winners from Week 25 was Barcelona. Barcelona defeated Granada on the road to pick up their 19th win of the season, giving them 59 points. Barcelona was holding on to a small 2-1 lead late in the game until Lionel Messi scored in the 70th minute of play to put the icing on the cake. This was huge for Barcelona because they were able to add three points while Real Madrid added just one this week, especially considering their loss last week to Malaga.

Messi now has 27 goals this season and a league-high 13 assists. As unthinkable as it seemed over a month ago, Messi is just three goals behind Ronaldo for the league lead. Goalkeeper Claudio Bravo has been without a doubt the best goalie this season allowing just 15 goals in his 25 starts. Bravo could be the biggest reason Barcelona wins their 23rd Spanish League title.

Barcelona will play Rayo Vallecano next week at home.

Time is running out for the defending champions to make their move. Last season, Atletico Madrid finished with 28 wins and just four losses. However, this season, Atletico Madrid is hanging on barely with a 17-3-5 record, one more loss this season than all of last year. In their last game, Atletico Madrid tied with Sevilla, 0-0.

Scoring is becoming a huge concern for Atletico Madrid as they now have 20 less goals than Barcelona and 25 less goals than Real Madrid. Mario Mandzukic and Antoine Griezmann have scored nearly half of Atletico Madrid's goals this season, with no real reliable third option. Atletico Madrid is in third place with 54 points.

Atletico Madrid will play Valencia in a huge game next week.

Speaking of Valencia, they have been the hottest team in the league lately, winning their last four consecutive games. Valencia doesn't have a single player ranked in the Top 10 in most goals scored having just 45 all season as a team. For some perspective, Real Madrid has 75 as a team. But somehow, someway, Valencia is winning and climbing up the standings.

Valencia has won six Spanish League titles, the last one coming in the 2003--04 season. It's going to be an extremely tough task to catch Real Madrid, but head coach Nuno Espírito Santo knows they have a great opportunity to make some waves next week. A home victory against Atletico Madrid next week would vault them into third place in the standings. Valencia will also face both Real Madrid and Barcelona once more this season.

As the season has progressed, Real Madrid is slightly holding on to the first place lead, but concerns are looming with injuries and tough competition. Barcelona can never be counted out as long as Messi, Neymar and Bravo are on the squad. As for Atletico Madrid, their hopes of a repeat championship are dwindling away.

Week 25 La Liga Standings, Top 5 Teams

1. Real Madrid: 20-1-4, 61 points
2. Barcelona: 19-2-4, 59 points
3. Atletico Madrid: 17-3-5, 54 points
4. Valencia: 16-5-4, 53 points
5. Sevilla: 14-4-7, 46 points

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