Five things we learned from La Liga

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February 5, 2017 8:32 PM

The inclement Spanish weather was the protagonist as postponements and awful conditions blighted week 21 in La Liga as Barcelona closed the gap on Real Madrid at the top.

Real Sociedad's players celebrate their team's second goal during the Spanish league football match Real Sociedad vs CA Osasuna at the Anoeta stadium in San Sebastian on February 5, 2017

Here, AFP Sports looks at five things we learned:

- Weather beaten

The weekend started as it meant to go on as Real Betis' visit to Deportivo la Coruna was called off first thing on Friday morning due to wind damage caused to Deportivo's Riazor ground.

Just down the road in Vigo, Celta Vigo's Balaidos had also taken a battering, but it took most of Saturday for a definitive decision to be reached that Real Madrid's scheduled visit on Sunday would be postponed.

Real Sociedad and Osasuna did brave the wind and rain in San Sebastian as Sociedad edged a five-goal thriller 3-2, but both sides also had to endure flying corner flags and a partial floodlight failure as the conditions wreaked havoc at Anoeta.

- Fixture chaos looms

The reason it took so long for Celta-Madrid to be postponed, despite Vigo's mayor categorically stating on Saturday morning that the stadium was unfit for use, was Real's concern over their mounting fixture congestion.

Due to Celta's involvement in the Europa League and Copa del Rey and Madrid's Champions League campaign, an available date to replay the game may not be found until May.

On top of defending their European crown, Real's commitments earlier in the season at the Club World Cup means Zinedine Zidane's men will have to play half their league season in just over three months with 19 La Liga games still to play.

- Alcacer finally breaks duck

Real's congested fixture list could play into Barcelona's hands as they moved to within a point of their title rivals, albeit having played two more games, with a 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.

Barca should be the fresher side come May as not only do they have a lighter schedule, but Luis Enrique is beginning to reap the rewards of his rotation policy through the first two months of the season.

Luis Suarez was left on the bench this weekend, but Paco Alcacer finally took his chance to make a mark with his first league goal since a 30 million euro ($32 million) move from Valencia in August.

- Torres at the double

Barca also look set to make a fourth straight Copa del Rey final as they lead Atletico Madird 2-1 after the first leg of their semi-final.

However, Atletico's hopes of an unlikely turnaround in Tuesday's second leg at the Camp Nou may rest on the shoulders of a suddenly rejuvenated Fernando Torres.

Torres's presence as a second-half substitute threatened to turn the tie around in the first leg on Wednesday and he continued that form by scoring his first two La Liga goals since September in Saturday's 2-0 win over Leganes.

To illustrate the size of the task awaiting Atletico, Torres also scored twice the last time they won at the Camp Nou back in 2006.

- Sevilla rue missed chance

Sevilla's unlikely hope of challenging Madrid and Barca for the title appear to be slipping away as Sergio Asenjo's heroics in the Villarreal goal salvaged a 0-0 draw for the visitors at the Sanchez Pizjuan.

Asenjo saved a Samir Nasri penalty and made an even better stop to deny Vicente Iborra late on to leave Sevilla looking over their shoulders rather than at chasing down Madrid.

Jorge Sampaoli's men are now three points adrift of the league leaders having played two games more.

However, their place in the top four is far for guaranteed with victories for Atletico and Sociedad cutting the gap between third and fifth to five points.

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