Another weekend in the books in Spain, and only three matches remain in the season. The final month or so of the 2015-16 La Liga season is one of the more competitive and dramatic in recent memory, with three teams all within a point of each other, something not too common in Spanish soccer.

Adding to the excitement in the Iberian Penninsula is the fact that the Spanish captial features two teams still in the hunt for Europe's top prize, the Champions League. Of course, both will begin the first leg of their semifinal round this week, with hopes of arriving in Milan next month to hoist the trophy.

As such, both Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid need to consider what their priorities are, and their actual chances are of winning La Liga. Barcelona, despite their lapse in form that caused them to fall out of the Champions League and incite such a contested domestic race, still have overwhelming talent and have what could be said is the easiest remaining three games among the top three teams.

Barcelona indeed are in the driver's seat, and they will win if they want to. Of their three remaining opponents, 13th-place Real Betis is their strongest adversary. They dispatched Sporting Gijón 6-0 Saturday with four goals by Luis Suarez leading the way. Suarez's four goals put him three ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo for the title of Spain's top goalscorer. Despite the final scoreline, some might consider Barcelona lucky, as Gijón had their chances throughout the match, although that is where talent comes into play. When you're fighting relegation as the Asturians are, you simply aren't able to convert and match the power of a Barcelona, especially not on their home pitch.

Referring back to priorities, Real Madrid showed their priorities lie with winning the Champions League for an 11th time, as is usually the case. For Florentino Perez and the Madrid faithful, European glory takes precedent over all others. Facing Madrid neighbors Rayo Vallecano, they nearly dropped three points without Ronaldo dressing and Karim Benzema substituted due to a bothersome hamstring. 

Madrid fell behind early 2-0 to Rayo, but were Bale-d out by Gareth Bale (pun intended). The Welshman put on a performance that Madrid has been expecting since paying over 100 million euros for him two years ago. It showed that when healthy, Bale can and will be the supplement to Ronaldo much in the same way Barcelona view Neymar and Messi's heir apparent. He showed dominance through the air with a header to open the scoring for Madrid, and simply blew past Rayo's defense for the deciding third goal.

However towards the finish, Bale was grabbing at the calf that has been causing him problems all season. For Bale, it is only a matter of health keeping him from dominating Spain.

Photo: Flickr/Dan Farrimond