Barcelona, Real Madrid share the lead in Spanish La Liga
In years passed, the rivalry between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona was manifested in more than just a football match. It was personal.
The incident in 2002 at the Camp Nou when Luis Figo was pelted with among many things, a pig's head as he took a corner kick for Real Madrid against Barca, a club he had represented with vigour two years earlier, exemplified the point.
This was more than football.
This season, it's all about football though as Spain's finest battle it out at the top of the Spanish La Liga log. Barcelona lead the way with 60 points from 27 played, same as Madrid who have an inferior goal difference. Barca have also played a game less.
Both sides are also into the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League, making it an exciting time for their respective fans.
On Sunday, Atletico Madrid relinquished a two-goal lead in a 4-2 loss to Barca, another setback for Diego Simeone's men after they were eliminated by Real in the Champions League in midweek.
Playing at home, Atletico led Barca 2-0 at halftime but conceded a pair of late goals thus failing to overtake their Catalan rivals in the standings.
The defeat leaves Atletico four points behind their two rivals on 56 points, with Barcelona having the game in hand.
Madrid won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday thanks to a brace from Kylian Mbappe.
Athletic Bilbao solidified fourth place with a 1-0 win at Sevilla.
Yeray Álvarez scored with a header in the 84th minute to give Athletic the away victory and an eight-point gap ahead of fifth-placed Villarreal.
Sixth placed Betis bested Leganes 3-2 to retain hopes of European football next season.
Leganes who currently sit in 18th in the relegation places, are just a point behind Espanyol in position 15, making it a tight race to avoid relegation.
Valladolid are bottom with 16 points. The league takes a two week break to make way for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers. Upon it's return, majority of the clubs will have only 10 matches left to play this season.