Dovbyk Girona star; Guler Real Madrid debut; Bailly Villarreal return: 10 things from this week's LaLiga you must know

What has been going on in LALIGA this past week? Here are 10 of the top stories, from Dovbyk's Player of the Month award to the first of the January transfers.

Spanish football is well and truly up and running in 2024, with LALIGA EA SPORTS and Copa del Rey all restarting over the past week. Here's all you need to know.

Real Madrid are winter champions

Matchday 19 of the 2023/24 LALIGA EA SPORTS season took place in midweek, meaning we've now reached the halfway stage of the season. By defeating RCD Mallorca 1-0 courtesy of an Antonio Rüdiger goal, Real Madrid have finished the first half of the campaign as the league leaders, and are winter champions. In 25 of the previous 36 seasons in which Los Blancos were winter champions, they went on to seal the title.

Girona FC top title rivals Atleti in a thriller

Although Real Madrid are the current leaders and winter champions, Girona FC are in second place and level on 48 points. The Catalan outfit have put together an incredible first half of the season, which culminated in a dramatic 4-3 win over Atlético de Madrid in Matchday 19.

Barça and Athletic Club round out the top four

Two of the other standout results from Matchday 19 were the away victories of FC Barcelona and Athletic Club. The former won 2-1 at UD Las Palmas thanks to a stoppage time İlkay Gündoğan penalty, while the Basque side defeated Sevilla FC 2-0 on the road. As such, Barça finish the first half of the campaign third and Athletic Club are fourth.

Cádiz CF drop into the relegation zone

Looking further down the standings, the three teams inside the relegation zone at the midway point are UD Almería, Granada CF and Cádiz CF. The latter have just dropped into the bottom three, with RC Celta