A bad week for Barcelona, who were knocked out of the cup by Zaragoza midweek and then lost for only the second time in the league at the weekend. Larsson got a goal in each game and Messi scored as well in the cup, but the absence of Eto'o and Ronaldinho weighed heavily. Curiously their victors in the league were Atlético Madrid, the same team who beat them 19 games ago, with Fernando Torres getting two in what must be his favourite ground and Maxi getting one in between. Eto'o at least will be back for next weekend's visit to second placed Valencia after Cameroon were knocked out of the Africa Cup, and he will be keen to face off against his closest rival David Villa, who scored the goal of the weekend from around the halfway line against Deportivo.

For the second weekend in a row there were 30 goals in La Liga, with seven of them coming in the game between Zaragoza and Betis. Three of those were scored by visiting striker Dani, but his efforts didn't even earn his side a point, the hosts getting four including two from Diego Milito before the Andalusians opened their account. Real Madrid got four as well against a well beaten Espanyol, with two from Zidane and another from Ronaldo on his return after a brief lay off due to an injury. And across town from the Bernabeu, Pernía (with a penalty) and Güiza (with an injury time header) added to their tallies as Getafe saved a point against Alavés. (06.02.06)