Winners: Velez Sarsfield
11 years after their last title in the league, Velez proclaimed themselves champions of Argentina once again. All this after an important ride made up of 12 victories in 14 matches between June and September. The team coached by Gustavo Quinteros held on in the final rounds after threatening to be overtaken by rivals Talleres.
The moment of glory came after a 2-0 win at home against direct rivals Huracan. It was a replay of one of the most agonising and historic finals in Argentine football, namely the one that awarded the title in 2009, again to Velez, after a match full of drama and a hailstorm that interrupted it for dozens of minutes.
Losers: Valencia
Sitting last in LaLiga with just 10 points, Valencia cannot find their way out of the dark. A third consecutive defeat at home to Valladolid certified the crisis of the team coached by Ruben Baraja, who were beaten by a direct competitor in the relegation battle once again.
The debacle at the Jose Zorrilla, in fact, meant that Valladolid overtook Valencia, relegating the latter to the bottom of the table. This was all more proof of their terrible corporate management. For Los Che, unfortunately, it now looks very difficult to avoid relegation.
Winners: Atletico Madrid
The third wheel nobody expected. Atletico Madrid won 1-0 at home against Getafe on Sunday and moved to the top of the LaLiga table together with Barcelona, later defeated at home by Leganes. The triumph of Diego Simeone's team, the 11th in a row in all competitions, confirms the excellent momentum of Los Colchoneros, who are now an official candidate for the title in Spain.
With just 31 goals scored but a miserly 11 conceded, the Madrid outfit are consolidating their position as the third force in the Spanish league. This is all thanks in part to the resurgence of Antoine Griezmann and the offensive contribution of Alexander Sorloth, who scored the decisive goal yesterday and is now the side's top scorer in the league with seven, the same as their talismanic Frenchman.
Losers: Barcelona
80% ball possession, 2.67 xG and an impressive 20 shots - despite these statistics, Barcelona not only failed to get the better of Leganes but were also beaten by the Madrid-based side, all in front of their own crowd to whom Lamine Yamal had displayed the Golden Boy Award before the match.
Down in the fourth minute after conceding a goal from Sergio Gonzalez, unmarked at a corner, the Blaugrana then threw everything they could at their opponents' goal but never found the net. After this defeat, Hansi Flick's team was joined at the top of the table by Atletico. Furthermore, he will have to evaluate a sprained right ankle suffered by Yamal, his most important player.
Winners: Mainz
The sixth league win of the season for Mainz was the sweetest and most beautiful of all on Saturday. Bo Henriksen's team stunned Bundesliga table-toppers Bayern Munich 2-1 and thus managed to climb up to seventh in the league table. Their star was Lee Jae-Sung, who scored his first double of the campaign.
The 32-year-old Korean was able to make a fool of his more illustrious compatriot Kim Min-Jae, a central defender and Italian champion with Napoli, who for the first goal could only watch as his compatriot broke free and put his side ahead with a surgical finish. His second came after a beautiful turn in the opponent's box.
Losers: Manchester City
Eight defeats in eleven matches is a failing record for anyone. And if it is Manchester City, one of the strongest teams on paper in the world, it makes even more headlines. But the debacle for Pep Guardiola's team in Sunday's Manchester derby against United hurt for one reason above all - the way it happened. Leading until the 85th minute, City were surprised, caught and overtaken within a few ticks of the clock.
Matheus Nunes' double naivety, first passing badly backwards and then bringing down Amad Diallo in the box, allowed Bruno Fernandes to equalise in the 88th minute from a penalty. The worst moment, however, came a few minutes later, when a long ball surprised City's entire defensive line and saw Ederson come out ill-advisedly, allowing Diallo to touch past the keeper, quite brilliantly, and poke the ball into the empty goal.
Josko Gvardiol's clumsy intervention, between whose legs the ball ended up trickling into the net, encapsulated City's poor run as they lost the derby dramatically and also their heads. And now they really have to get going if they want to save their season.