La Liga Week 24 Standings: Barcelona, Lionel Messi Get Shutout By Malaga; Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo Increase First Place Lead

By Damon Salvadore First Posted: Feb 23, 2015 04:30 PM EST

Another exciting week of Spanish League soccer is complete, and while the standings have not changed, Week 24 was still filled with drama, great goals and disappointing defeats.

By far, the biggest winners of Week 24 were Real Madrid, who picked up a 2-0 road victory against Elche to get their 20th win of the season.

Superstar goal scorer Cristiano Ronaldo found the net for the first time since Week 19 against Getafe. With that goal, Ronaldo now has a league-leading 29 goals this season. For Ronaldo to surpass Messi's single season scoring record, he will have to score 22 goals in the final 14 games.

Karim Benzema also scored against Malaga. Benzema and Ronaldo now have a combined 42 goals this year and create arguably the best duo in soccer today along with Lionel Messi and Neymar.

With that win, Real Madrid picked up their 20th win of the season giving them 60 points. Real Madrid has been in first place in the La Liga standings since Week 10. The biggest reason Real Madrid has been so dominant is because of their incredible offense that has scored more goals than any other club.

Real Madrid will play Villarreal next week.

Without a doubt the biggest losers from Week 24 was Barcelona. Barcelona lost to Malaga, 1-0 at home. This was just the second home defeat for Barcelona this season along with their Week 10 loss to Celta Vigo, which also resulted in a 1-0 loss. For the first time since Week 17 Messi was held scoreless as was Neymar, who was also on a scoring streak.

With that defeat, Barcelona's record dropped to 18-2-4 giving them 56 points. There's still more than plenty of time for Barcelona to catch up to their rivals, but this looked like a guaranteed home victory for a Barcelona squad who had won six consecutive games. Surprisingly, this was the second time Barcelona failed to score a single goal against Malaga this season as they drew a 0-0 tie in Week 5.

On the positive side for Barcelona, goalkeeper Claudio Bravo is still playing at an elite level. He will most likely win the Ricardo Zamora Trophy.

Barcelona will play Granada next week.

Atletico Madrid got back on the winning side after a terrible loss to Celt Vigo last week. The defending champions beat Almeria, 3-0. As usual, Antoine Griezmann and Mario Mandzukic accounted for all three Atletico Madrid goals, and the team is still in third place in the standings. Griezmann and Mandzukic have now scored 26 of the 50 Atletico Madrid goals this season. The biggest issue for Atletico Madrid this season has been lack of consistency.

Atletico Madrid will play Sevilla next week.

La Liga will resume on Friday with Espanol and Cordoba facing off, followed by a nonstop weekend of Spanish soccer. Real Madrid has been in the driver's seat for the majority of the season, but Barcelona isn't far behind. The defending champions, Atletico Madrid can never be counted out either.