MADRID, March 13 (Xinhua) -- FC Barcelona take a nine-point lead into next weekend's El Clasico at home to Real Madrid after the 25th round of La Liga matches. Here are some things we learned this weekend in Spain.

1. Credibility of referees at risk

This weekend's matches were played under the continued cloud of the 'Negreira case', for which FC Barcelona are being investigated after making payments to a former referee and vice-president of the referees technical committee. What we needed to see this weekend were assured refereeing displays to help restore confidence, but instead there were performances which only raise further doubts about the credibility of the competition.

Inaki Williams had an equalizing goal for Athletic Bilbao against Barcelona disallowed after a VAR check saw a questionable handball from teammate Iker Muniain in the buildup, while in Valencia, referee Iglesias Villanueva showed two red cards to Osasuna players only for the VAR to overrule them.

After Valencia were denied a clear penalty in the Camp Nou against Barca last week, confidence in referees is at a low and La Liga needs better than this.

2. Numbers do no favors to Real Madrid

On the same day that Real Madrid's board of directors agreed that the club would form part of the accusation against FC Barcelona in the 'Negreira case', former Real Madrid midfielder Casemiro was shown a red card in Manchester United's 0-0 draw against Southampton in the Premier League.

The combative midfielder has now been sent off twice in 19 appearances in the Premier League - the same number of red cards he saw in 222 La Liga games for Real Madrid.

What makes the data even more surprising is that the Premier League has a reputation for allowing more physical play than Spain, where this season around four times more red cards have been shown to players than in the Premier League.

This statistic hardly shows Real Madrid to be victims of harsh refereeing decisions.

3. Barca ride luck to take step towards title

It was a good weekend for Barcelona, who got through one of their toughest remaining away matches to take a nine-point lead into next weekend's El Clasico against Real Madrid.

It was Barca's ninth 1-0 win of the season, and as well as Athletic's controversial disallowed goal, the Basque side hit the woodwork through Raul Garcia and Alex Berenguer. Barca scored from their only shot on target in the match, but will be pleased by another good display from Raphinha and young left back Alejandro Balde, who improves with every game.

Pedri and Ronald Araujo will return for El Clasico, but with a nine-point gap, a draw for Barca next week is now a good result.

4. Sevilla take step towards safety

Sevilla's 2-1 win over Almeria helped lift Jorge Sampaoli's side two points clear of the relegation zone and possibly saved Sampaoli's job a week after they were thrashed 6-1 by Atletico Madrid.

A home win over Fenerbahce in the Europa League also helped stabilize the club, who welcomed Loic Bade back in defense, while substitute goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic was the hero with some big saves after replacing the injured Bono.

While Sevilla have taken a step towards safety, five defeats in six games have dropped Almeria to second from bottom and coach Rubi's job has to be in danger. Enditem

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