La Liga Week 27 Schedule, Fixtures, Table & Stream: Lionel Messi & Barcelona Look to Stay Hot; Real Madrid & Cristiano Ronaldo Try to Recapture First Place

By Damon Salvadore First Posted: Mar 13, 2015 02:09 PM EDT

Another wild and crazy week of La Liga is here at last.

Last week, fans witnessed Real Madrid drop from the top spot after a disappointing defeat to Athletic Bilbao, 1-0. This is the first time Real Madrid has not been in first place since Week 9. Certainly unfamiliar territory for head coach Carlo Ancelotti this season.

To make matters worse, Colombian middle fielder James Rodriguez is still out with his foot injury. Real Madrid has suffered dearly without Rodriguez. Since Rodriguez's last game against Sevilla, the team is just 2-1-2 in the last five games without him. All things go through Cristiano Ronaldo, but the loss of Rodriguez has been devastating.

Speaking of Ronaldo, he hasn't quiet been himself in recent weeks. Opposing defenses are getting physical, and it seems to be working. Although Ronaldo was previously on pace to break the single season goal mark, he has just two goals over the last seven weeks.

Real Madrid has an easy game this weekend against 17th place Levante. A loss this weekend would be truly demoralizing for the 32 time Spanish League champions.

As for first place Barcelona, they are by far the hottest team in the league right now. Barcelona has won eight of their last nine games, thanks to Lionel Messi. The Argentinian superstar has been by far the best player on the planet over the last two months by an extremely wide margin. With his hat trick (his record 24th) last week, Messi has now tied Ronaldo for the league lead in goals with 30. On top of that, Messi also has the most assists in the league with 14.

Barcelona will take on Eibar on Saturday. Eibar is the 14th place squad, so this is without a doubt a must-win game for Barcelona.

Most likely, both Real Madrid and Barcelona will come out with a victory in Week 27, thus keeping Barcelona in first place by one point. However, if Barcelona loses or ties, and Real Madrid wins, Real Madrid takes over the top spot. Don't worry: These two teams will be facing off next week in the "El Clasico" showdown.

Atletico Madrid (55 points) and Valencia (54 points) are currently battling for the third place spot. Last week the two teams drew a 1-1 contest against one another. Atletico Madrid is the defending Spanish League soccer champions, but offense has been a huge issue this season. As for Valencia, the dream is still alive. Valencia has just one loss in their last 13 games, and a seventh Spanish League title may not be completely out of their sights just yet.