Barcelona moved six points clear at the top of La Liga by easing to a 4-0 win at home to Deportivo La Coruna on Sunday with doubles from Luis Suarez and Paulinho ahead of next week's 'Clasico' against champions Real Madrid.
Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale answered his critics in emphatic style.
Portugal international Goncalo Guedes fired Valencia into the lead in the 35th minute with a thumping shot from inside the area which was too powerful for Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas.
Marco Asensio's strike earned Real Madrid a 1-0 win over Espanyol to send them top of La Liga and Thomas Lemar scored his first goal for Atletico Madrid in a 2-0 victory at Getafe on Saturday.
Barcelona, reduced to 10-man in the last half-an-hour, clinched a narrow win over Valencia in their La Liga match on Sunday.
Substitute Sergio Araujo struck a late equaliser as Las Palmas held Real Madrid to a 2-2 draw and left them with a one-point lead over Barcelona at the top of La Liga on Saturday.
Arsenal took the race to the final day last season and are strongly tipped to end Manchester City's dominance this time.
A Neymar double, a spectacular volley from Luis Suarez and a goal for Lionel Messi saw top of the table Barcelona's unstoppable strike force sweep aside Real Sociedad 4-0 in La Liga on Saturday.
Aritz Aduriz nodded the first goal and set up another as Athletic Bilbao beat Espanyol 3-1 to climb to ninth in La Liga on Friday.
'I expect a brave Napoli that plays from the back and presses high, that doesn't speculate, has a lot of individual talent, it's a big game and it's a great team, current champions of Italy.'
A Champions League spot, two Europa League berths and two relegation places are to be claimed or avoided in what promises to be a nerve-wracking finale to the La Liga season on Sunday.
Midfielder Santi Cazorla gave the home side the lead in the fourth minute of the game, which was rescheduled due to Real's participation in last month's Club World Cup, by bending a wonderful shot into the bottom corner.
Lionel Messi scored twice and Luis Suarez struck his first La Liga goal as Barcelona crushed struggling Cordoba 5-0 on Saturday.
Third-placed Valencia missed a chance to open a five-point lead over chasing Malaga when the Europa League semi-finalists crashed to a 4-0 reverse at Espanyol in La Liga on Sunday.
Athletic Bilbao ended Getafe's run of four straight wins and climbed above them into fifth place in La Liga when Aymeric Laporte's early bullet header secured a 1-0 win at the Coliseum in Madrid on Monday.
Joao Miranda and new signing Mario Mandzukic led Atletico Madrid to a 2-1 home win in La Liga on Saturday as visitors Eibar were unable to cope with the aerial threat of the champions.
Real Madrid opened a 10-point lead over Barcelona at the top of La Liga after Cristiano Ronaldo's sixth hat-trick of the season clinched a 4-2 comeback win at home to 10-man Levante on Sunday.
Cristiano Ronaldo netted his 27th career hat-trick and Gareth Bale struck twice as Real Madrid bounced back in style from consecutive defeats with a thumping 8-2 La Liga win at Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday.
The Spanish government's top sports official has sent out a message of calm and said there is no reason for Saturday's La Liga 'El Clasico' between Real Madrid and Barcelona to be postponed following Friday's attacks in Paris.
Barcelona have one hand firmly on the La Liga title after winning 2-0 at Alaves on Tuesday, leaving them 12 points clear at the top of the table with four games to play.
Atletico Madrid secured a berth in the Champions League group stage for next season and Deportivo La Coruna narrowly escaped relegation when they came from two goals down to draw 2-2 at champions Barcelona on the final day in La Liga on Saturday.
Ernesto Valverde's Bilbao team punished the visitors with clinical counter-attacks, playing with the advantage of having won the first leg 1-0 in Madrid.
Marco Ruben rescued a point for misfiring Villarreal as they could only draw 1-1 at home with 10-man Real Sociedad in La Liga on Sunday.
Zinedine Zidane got off to a flying start as Real Madrid coach when Gareth Bale hit a hat-trick in a 5-0 win over Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday after a Lionel Messi treble had fired Barcelona to the top of La Liga.
Apex football body FIFA and the International Football Association Board (IFAB), which set the rules, have issued new guidelines ahead of the restart of the Bundesliga.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a penalty and missed another as Real Madrid beat Real Sociedad 3-1.
Spain's league programme will go ahead this weekend after a Madrid court upheld a challenge from six breakaway clubs and blocked proposed strike action.
The European champions, who were humbled 3-0 by tiny Eibar last week, took a fortuitous lead when Valencia midfielder Daniel Wass nodded a Dani Carvajal cross into his own net in the eighth minute after former Arsenal defender Gabriel Paulista had failed to clear the danger.
IMAGES from football matches played across Europe on Wednesday.
Pepe opened the scoring for Real with a looping header that flew past Jan Oblak in the 52nd minute and it looked like the hosts would earn three points to move five clear of Barcelona at the top of La Liga.
When Barcelona host local rivals Espanyol on Saturday hoping to edge closer to the La Liga title, many may be haunted by Raul Tamudo's 89th minute equaliser which wrecked their title bid in 2006/07.
Valencia turned up the heat on Atletico Madrid in the fight for third place in La Liga when a 3-0 derby victory at home to Levante on Monday lifted the Singapore-owned club to within a point of the champions with seven games left.
Barcelona kept up the pressure on La Liga title rivals Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid when Lionel Messi struck from the penalty spot in a 1-0 win at Espanyol in Saturday's Catalan derby.
The following is the draw for the Champions League last 16 which was held in Nyon on Monday:
Real Madrid beat Leganes 4-2 on Wednesday despite resting key players including Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale as goals from Alvaro Morata and James Rodriguez helped them stay top of La Liga after Barcelona cruised to a 3-0 win over Sevilla.
The three-horse race for the La Liga title tightened on Sunday when leaders Real Madrid drew 2-2 at city rivals Atletico and Barcelona won 4-1 at home to Almeria.
Barcelona closed to within a point of La Liga leaders Real Madrid when Lionel Messi scored one goal, created two and conceded a penalty in a 3-1 win at home to champions Atletico Madrid on Sunday that eased pressure on under-fire coach Luis Enrique.
Zinedine Zidane's Real side demonstrated their new-found grit to re-take the lead
Valencia recaptured fourth place in La Liga from Sevilla when Sofiane Feghouli scored the pick of the goals in a 4-0 stroll at home to second-from-bottom Granada on Monday.
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola and leading scorer Lionel Messi described their 2011 La Liga crown as the toughest of titles after securing top spot with a 1-1 draw at Levante on Wednesday.
