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Real Madrid earned a hard-fought 3-1 win over Real Sociedad during Wednesday's Week 17 La Liga action, in large part thanks to a brace from Cristiano Ronaldo. Their lead atop the standings was short-lived, however, as Barcelona and Atletico Madrid also emerged victorious.

Ronaldo missed an early penalty but redeemed himself from the spot just before half-time, and a superb volley in the second half put Los Blancos on the path to victory. Luis Suarez scored a brace and Lionel Messi also found the net in Barcelona's 4-0 win over Real Betis.

Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid left it late to beat Rayo Vallecano 2-0, and Sevilla beat Espanyol by the same score.

La Liga Week 17 Results: Wednesday Levante 0-1 Malaga Real Madrid 3-1 Real Sociedad Sevilla 2-0 Espanyol Rayo Vallecano 0-2 Atletico Madrid Eibar 2-0 Sporting Gijon Barcelona 4-0 Real Betis Celta Vigo 0-1 Athletic Club Getafe 0-0 Deportivo la Coruna Las Palmas 4-1 Granada BBC Sport

The current La Liga standings:

La Liga Standings POS Team P W D L GF GA GD Pts 1 Barcelona 16 12 2 2 40 15 +25 38 2 Atletico Madrid 17 12 2 3 24 8 +16 38 3 Real Madrid 17 11 3 3 45 16 +29 36 4 Celta Vigo 17 9 4 4 28 23 +5 31 5 Villarreal 16 9 3 4 21 15 +6 30 6 Athletic Club 17 8 3 6 25 18 +7 27 7 Deportivo La Coruna 17 6 9 2 25 16 +9 27 8 Sevilla 17 7 5 5 23 19 +4 26 9 Eibar 17 6 6 5 21 19 +2 24 10 Valencia 16 5 7 4 21 14 +7 22 11 Espanyol 17 6 2 9 16 28 -12 20 12 Real Betis 17 5 5 7 13 23 -10 20 13 Malaga 17 5 5 7 11 14 -3 20 14 Getafe 17 4 5 8 18 26 -8 17 15 Las Palmas 17 4 4 9 16 24 -8 16 16 Real Sociedad 17 4 4 9 18 25 -7 16 17 Sporting Gijon 16 4 3 9 15 25 -10 15 18 Rayo Vallecano 17 4 2 11 18 39 -21 14 19 Granada 17 3 5 9 18 31 -13 14 20 Levante 17 2 5 10 12 30 -18 11 BBC Sport

Recap

Barcelona set a new Spanish record for most goals in a calendar year on Wednesday, breaking Real Madrid's mark of 178 by netting four times against Betis. Meanwhile, Messi scored in his 500th appearance for the club.

The Argentinian rounded off a great passing move to double Barcelona's lead, which came courtesy of an own-goal from Heiko Westermann after Neymar had missed a dubious penalty. Suarez added two more goals in the second half, and per ESPN FC's Dermot Corrigan, it was business as usual for the Blaugrana:

Given the Catalans' superb form and incredible talent, they have to be considered the favourites to win the title going into 2016. Things are close at the top of the standings, however, and Real and Atletico will be gunning for Barcelona.

Real Sociedad certainly didn't make it easy on Los Blancos on Wednesday, and the 3-1 win was filled with controversy and sloppy defending, giving manager Rafa Benitez's detractors even more ammunition.

The visitors were furious when Los Blancos were gifted a penalty after 22 minutes, as Karim Benzema went down after making contact with Yuri Berchiche. The contact appeared to be very light, to say the least, although the full-back could have avoided the situation by not making any contact altogether.

Ronaldo stepped up in an attempt to give his team the lead, but the Portugal international blasted a horrible attempt over the bar. Per OptaJose, the strike was quite out of character:

The hosts had the better chances during the first half, but La Real made a solid impression as well, and Jonathas nearly gave his side a shock lead after 36 minutes, firing just wide.

Ronaldo was given the opportunity to redeem himself just before half-time, after another close call went against the Basques. Yuri was again the culprit, blocking a cross from Gareth Bale with a slide and watching the ball take an awkward bounce from his thigh and touch his arm.

La Liga writer Sid Lowe was not impressed with the call:

This time, Ronaldo kept his cool and converted, handing Real the lead.

Real's advantage didn't last very long, as Bruma put the Basques on level terms early in the second half. The Bernabeu was anything but happy and became even more vocal when Benitez took off James Rodriguez for Mateo Kovacic, and with the visitors defending well, things weren't looking great.

But Ronaldo again came to the rescue, blasting a volley past goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli in the 67th minute to reclaim the lead. Bleacher Report UK was impressed:

The visitors pushed for a late equaliser, to the dismay of the Bernabeu, but Los Blancos stood firm and added a third goal through Lucas Vazquez to come away with three points.

After the match, Benitez admitted Ronaldo "carried the team," per Goal's Matthew Rogerson.

We controlled the game, apart from 10 minutes. We created many chances and if we had taken more of them we would have been more comfortable. Despite missing the penalty, Ronaldo took another one and [carried] the team on his back. The whole team showed character and responsibility. If we had taken more of our chances we would have had a much more comfortable game.

In Wednesday's other early kick-off, Duda scored the only goal to see Malaga past Levante.

Atletico were expected to cruise past city rivals Rayo Vallecano, but it took late goals from Angel Correa and Antoine Griezmann for Diego Simeone's men to book a 2-0 win. Fernando Torres blew a number of chances and the visitors defended with all their might, clinging on for dear life for 88 minutes.

It was anything but a strong outing for Atletico, who turned the match around in the final two minutes of regulation to reclaim the top spot from rivals Real Madrid, with Barcelona still to play.

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