Real Madrid edge Villarreal in the weekend's tightest duel

Some weekends in La Liga are about beauty. This one was about control. Real Madrid's 1-0 over Villarreal was the tightest game of the Spanish round, and arguably the most significant: one goal, three points, a rival beaten.

These are the fixtures that decide titles in May. Not the routs, the 1-0s. Villarreal are one of the league's strongest sides this season, organised, dangerous in transition and increasingly comfortable on the biggest stages. Madrid found the single goal that mattered and then managed the game with the cold efficiency their greatest teams have always had.

What will please the Bernabeu most is the manner of it. There was no panic in the closing stages, no desperate defending of the box. Madrid saw out the win the way elite sides do, by keeping the ball in the right areas of the pitch and denying Villarreal the rhythm they need to be dangerous.

For Villarreal there is no shame in this defeat, but it will sting. They came to the Bernabeu believing they could take something, and for long stretches they looked capable of it. The fine margins at the top of this league keep finding them out.

Barcelona had the more comfortable evening, a 3-0 win over Getafe that was never in doubt. Getafe arrived to frustrate, as Getafe do, but Barcelona's patience and movement eventually turned stubborn resistance into a routine scoreline. Three goals, a clean sheet, job done.

Atletico Madrid won 2-1 at Alaves, grinding out the kind of away result their entire identity is built on. Alaves made them fight for everything, as expected, but Atletico found the decisive moment and defended it with their usual conviction. It was not pretty. Atletico have never needed it to be.

The entertainment was in Seville, where Real Betis beat Osasuna 5-2 in the day's wildest game. Seven goals shared between two sides who both committed to attack, and a home crowd given the kind of afternoon that keeps a season ticket renewed. Betis at full tilt remains one of the league's great spectacles.

Real Sociedad edged a five-goal contest with Deportivo La Coruna 3-2 in the round's other shootout, a result that keeps their strong home form intact. And Elche and Celta Vigo shared the round's only goalless draw, a 0-0 that both managers will describe as a point gained and both sets of supporters will describe considerably less generously.

So the round closes with the same picture at the top that it opened with: Madrid win tight, Barcelona win big, Atletico win ugly. The margins between the three are not decided in October, but the habits are forming. And right now Madrid's habit of winning the tight games is the most valuable currency in the division.

The deeper question is whether anyone outside the traditional three can sustain a challenge. Villarreal and Betis both showed enough this weekend to suggest the fight for the European places will be worth following all the way to May.