Spanish league: a view on the last round

Deportivo La Coruna carried on their excellent form by beating Seville 1-0 at the Riazor.

This result sent them three points clear at the top of the Primera Liga as Real Betis and Celta Vigo only drew.

The difference between the Deportivo of last season and this, is that the current model are able to win away. They have won three out of their opening four away games. If you add this to their good home form, you perhaps have the favourites to win the league title.

They also have the Spanish League's in-form striker in the shape of Diego Tristan. The Spanish international followed up his brace in midweek against Manchester United with the only goal of the game against Seville. He has been likened to the great Marco Van Basten and on his current form the comparisons may not be so far-fetched.

The Real Madrid crisis continued as they were whistled off after their home draw with high-flying Celta Vigo. The Merenagues have won just two of their first nine matches and find themselves ten points adrift of Deportivo in a lowly 15th place.

"There's still a long way to go. But we have 29 matches left and ten points is not an enormous difference," said coach Del Bosque after the latest disappointment.

A draw was probably a fair result as Catanha gave the Galicians an early lead only for Real to peg them back through a fine lob from Guti later in the half. The home side put the pressure on in the last 20 minutes but it was to no avail as Celta held out resolutely to take a valuable point from the match.

Many critics have attempted to come up with reasons for their poor form. The most plausible, is that they are weak in the centre of defence. Fernando Hierro is not the player he was, while his partners Aitor Karanka and Ivan Campo are suspect to say the least.

The biggest difference from last season is the absence of Ivan Helguera through injury. He was excellent last season whether he played in central defence with Hierro or in central midfield with Claude Makelele. He was on the substitutes bench against Celta and the sooner they get him back the better.

Celta Vigo are certainly the dark horses for the title. They have great strength-in-depth and they don't have the distraction of Champions League football. They are also handily placed in second which is a good position to be in at this stage of the season.

The likes of Alexander Mostovoi, Valeri Karpin and Gustavo Lopez would get in to the starting eleven of most teams in Europe. With Catanha playing ahead of these three up-front, it is certainly a potent mix. The Brazilian born Spanish international will always score goals and his work-rate is second to none.

Valencia are creeping along nicely at the moment and they had a comfortable 2-0 win over Real Zaragoza. Kily Gonzalez scored both the goals against his former club and if Valencia can get their midfielders into double figures for the season they may be a good bet to finish top-two. They, like Celta don't have the distraction of Champions League football while, over the last year they have been the best defensive team in Spain.

Barcelona stumbled to a disappointing 1-1 draw at Malaga. If the Catalans have any ambition of winning the league, they need to get more than a point out of these kind of games. Many are surprised by the differing seasons that Barcelona and Real Madrid have had, but the truth of the matter is that Barcelona are just six points ahead of their deadly rivals.

The major plus to come out of the weekend's game was the return to goal-scoring form of Rivaldo. Barcelona have certainly missed their brilliant Brazilian, especially in the four games they have drawn this season where a piece of magic could have made all the difference.

The Championship is likely to be the most open in years. Realistically any of the current top five could win it and it would be foolish to rule Real Madrid out at this stage.

At the bottom, Real Sociedad and Mallorca gained important wins to move away from the trapdoor. Sergio Kresic got off to a winning start as Mallorca coach with a 3-0 victory over bottom side Rayo Vallecano at the San Moix. They now go into a crucial Champions League match with Arsenal at Highbury on Wednesday.

John Toshack gained his first win of the season as Sociedad beat Osasuna 2-1.