Slim pickings once again for the Spanish sides in Europe, and between the three still in competitions at the semi-final stage (Deportivo, Valencia and Villarreal) they only managed one goal between them in six games. Mista's early penalty against Villarreal was enough though to take Valencia through to the UEFA cup final and set up the possibility of an unprecedented double for the club. They accomplished the first, and no doubt most difficult part of the task this weekend, their 0-2 win over Sevilla (goals from Vicente and Baraja) coupled with losses for Real Madrid and Barcelona giving Rafa Benítez's side their second league title in three years.

Real Madrid meanwhile proved that they are human after all, the long, gruelling season finally taking it's toll on the superstars. The policy of "Zidanes" and "Pavones" meant that there was no reliable back up for the top names, who were obliged to play many more minutes than their contemporaries in other sides. The last straw was the 2-3 defeat at home against Mallorca, and for the umpteenth time this season the damage was done by a player who has ties to the club. This time it was African footballer of the year Samuel Eto'o who scored two goals against them to cancel out Pavón's header and Figo's penalty, and as they already own 50% of his rights they could do worse than to bring him back for next season.

Overall though it was a low scoring weekend, with only 23 goals over the ten games. The only other of the top Pichichis to score was Real Sociedad's Nihat, who moves on to fourteen in all competitions. With two weeks to go it looks as if Ronaldo has things tied up (at least Real Madrid get one trophy), although his lack of recent form (partly due to injury) means that he probably will lose out on the European Golden Boot to Arsenal's Thierry Henry. (10.05.04)