An interesting duel in the cup coming up this Wednesday, with the competition's three top scorers facing off against each other. Raúl and Baptista have five each and Darío Silva has four, all three having scored midweek in their respective quarter final ties. Don't rule out Alavés striker Rubén Navarro though for the cup Pichichi, as he too has four and will presumably in the team for Thursday's tie with Zaragoza. Who won't win it this year is Fernando Torres, as his team are out even though he did get the first goal against Sevilla.

Ronaldo took another step towards the European golden boot at the weekend, although he was given a helping hand by the statisticians. Everybody put him down for two goals at Valladolid, but the referee's report gave the first goal to Zidane, even though the ball clearly hit the Brazilian striker on it's way into the net. Although we normally go with the officials when counting goals, on this occasion we will take the side of the statistics boys so as not to create confusion. We will however accept the referee's opinion at the match between Mallorca and Athletic, where the official report gave Bruggink as the goalscorer for the locals, even though Gurpegui deflected it into his own net (which earned him a much publicized clip around the ear from Aranzubia).

There were some big scores this weekend, starting with Valencia who hit six at Málaga. Mista got one of them, but the hero was Oliveira, who got his second hat-trick of the season. And to think they are still looking for a striker! Incidentally the man they loaned out to Málaga, Salva, got the only goal at the other end. Elsewhere Barcelona scored five against Albacete, with Saviola getting his name on the scoresheet, and Diego Tristán got the only goal for Deportivo against Sevilla from the penalty spot. (02.02.04)