A much-changed Real Madrid stayed top of La Liga after beating Leganes 4-2 at the Estadio Municipal de Butarque on Wednesday. Bitter rivals Barcelona had temporarily leapfrogged Los Blancos into first place earlier in the day after beating Sevilla 3-0 at the Camp Nou thanks to an inspired Lionel Messi.Barca are still two points adrift and will know how their old foe has the advantage of a game in hand.At the bottom, a rare win for Osasuna isn't enough to ease the club's relegation woes.Here are the final scores from Wednesday's matches:Here's what those results mean for the updated table:RecapReal manager Zinedine Zidane made nine changes. The most notable involved resting every member of his star-studded front three: Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema.James Rodriguez and Alvaro Morata came in and accounted for all four of Los Blancos' goals. They benefited from an outstanding performance from 21-year-old Marco Asensio, who ghosted between the lines and showed off some exquisite touches.The leaders were comfortably in front by three after 23 minutes. However, they nearly crumbled before the break, as Leganes scored twice.First, Gabriel Pires found the net with a close-range shot, then Luciano Neves headed in from a corner. As Phil Kitromilides of Madrid TV noted, conceding in the air has been a rarity for Los Merengues this season:Real hung on after the break, thanks largely to Morata wrapping up his hat-trick three minutes into the second half. The leaders won but looked far from convincing, even though it was obvious Zidane had one eye on Saturday's derby against Atletico at home.By contrast, Barca turned on the style from the start against a bewildered Sevilla side. Luis Suarez scored before Messi bagged his brace.The prolific No. 10 has made a habit of punishing Sevilla, according to OptaJose:Messi's second, which was Barca's third, made the club the most prolific on the continent, per Sky Sports Statto:Messi continued to run the visitors ragged after the break, although he couldn't inspire more goals. In the end, Messi had once again proved his team's talisman, according to WhoScored.com:With Messi in this sort of form, the champions may have the edge in the title race, despite Real's game in hand.Elsewhere, Osasuna won for the first time in nearly six months whenAlex Berenguer drilled a fantastic shot from the outside of the box to beat Alaves away. Osasuna still look doomed, despite restoring some pride.Yet the others at the bottom did slip up. Deportivo La Coruna could only manage a goalless draw at home to Granada, while Sporting Gijon's players saw Malaga leave town with a 1-0 win after Sandro Ramirez scored five minutes before the break.Still, it's the picture at the top that will naturally continue to generate the most interest. Los Blancos are maintaining their advantage, but Barca appear to be clicking into gear at just the right time.
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