The title race in La Liga will surely be decided during the later stages of the tournament, as Real Madrid and Barcelona have proven to be subject to drop points when no one in their right mind would expect them to do so.
This weekend, Los Blaugranas saw 13-game streak without a loss against Deportivo end, as the team from Galicia shocked Luis Enrique's men by beating them 2-1, which proved to be costly enough as Real Madrid knocked them from the league's top spot.
Los Culés saw another streak coming to an end, but this time, it involved one of their players.
1 - Barcelona have lost a game in which Luis Suárez scored for the first time ever (W67 D5 - all comps). Correction. pic.twitter.com/Nut96plj73
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) March 12, 2017
As for Real Madrid, Los Blancos had to come from behind again to beat Betis at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. The real show-stopper was none other than the referee, as Mateu Lahoz refused to send off Keylor Navas during the first half hour of the game over a clear tackle against one of Betis' strikers.
Experts were shocked by Lahoz's decision to wave for the game to carry on, rather than sending Navas to the showers ahead of time.
But that decision wasn't the only one Lahoz got wrong during the game. As the game approached its final moments, Lahoz disallowed a goal by Cristiano Ronaldo, who was deemed to be offside by the linesman. Replays from different angles show that the Portuguese ace was onside when Luka Modric passed him the ball.
Pichichi Race
Luis Suárez and Cristiano Ronaldo took advantage of Messi's goal-less outing against Deportivo to cut short his lead at the top of La Liga's best striker race. Barcelona's players are the only players in the Spanish top flight to surpass the 20-goal mark at the moment.
Cristiano
— LaLiga (@LaLigaEN) March 12, 2017
Luis Suarez
Griezmann
Messi is still the player to catch in the #LaLigaSantander top scorers table! pic.twitter.com/3ndzcH5cn3
La Liga Standings
With their late win against Real Betis, Zinedine Zidane's men recovered the top spot of La Liga only two weeks after giving Barcelona the chance to leapfrog them. While the race is far from over, Los Blancos' game in hand against Celta could prove to be crucial to decide who will take the 2016-17 La Liga trophy home.