MADRID, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Spanish Liga Santander reached its halfway point at the weekend with Barcelona top of the table, Real Madrid in crisis and Malaga and Las Palmas staring at relegation. Here are some things we have learned over the past 19 weeks.
1. Title is Barca's to loose
Nobody would have predicted at the start of the season that Barca would reach the halfway mark of the season nine points clear at the top of the Liga Santander. Barca went into the campaign with a new coach, Ernesto Valverde, losing the Supercup to Real Madrid and seemingly groggy after losing Neymar to PSG.
However, in half a season Valverde has won over ever the most skeptical Barca fans and if his side's football has at times left things to be desired with Leo Messi in outstanding form, they have been unstoppable.
Sunday's 4-2 win away to Real Sociedad was Barca's season in microcosm: they started slowly and went 2-0 down, before hitting top gear and blowing their rivals off the park. Last week saw the squad strengthened by Phillipe Countinho and Yerry Mina and it looks as if Barca will only get better.
2. Zidane's job is hanging by a thread
It's hard to believe that a man who has led Real Madrid to two Champions League titles and who last year saw them to a domestic and European double could be in danger of losing his job, but football can be cruel and at the ever-demanding Real Madrid it can be crueler than anywhere else.
It's fair to say that Madrid didn't deserve to lose at home to Villarreal on Saturday after producing 28 shots, but they did lose and Villarreal followed the footsteps of Betis and Barcelona in inflicting a home defeat.
Madrid have failed to win in 8 games in front of their fans this campaign and a quick look at the table shows that their fight now is not to overtake Barca but to try and catch Atletico Madrid and Valencia... and more worryingly, to remain ahead of Villarreal, Sevilla and company and ensure they return to next season's Champions League.
3. New faces will help Valencia
Atletico Valencia rode their luck to win 2-1 away to Deportivo la Coruna, coach Marcelino Garcia will be especially pleased after a week which also saw his side reach the quarter-finals of the King's Cup.
Valencia's squad had been looking threadbare as the rigors of playing two games a week began to bite, but the arrival of Luciano Vietto, who netted a hat-trick in the Cup, and central midfielder Francis Coquelin will give more options as the campaign goes into its second half, with the club's options in the Cup and League both still very much alive.
4. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail
Fridays 1-0 defeat to Getafe finally cost Michel Gonzalez his job at Malaga and he leaves the club with just 11 points. Although he deserves part of the blame for his side's struggles, the fact is that Malaga are paying the price for a shambolic summer, which saw key players such as Ignacio Camacho, Sandro Rodriguez and Pablo Fornals (who scored Villarreal's winner in the Bernabeu) leave without adequate replacements.
The same happened at Las Palmas, where Kevin Prince Boateng, Roque Mesa and Helder Lopes all left and inferior replacements arrived.
Las Palmas lost 6-0 to Girona on Saturday and have the same number of points as Malaga. The message is clear, unless you do your job in the summer, you pay for it over the season.
