No doubt the talking point of the week was Real Madrid's 6-1 defeat at the hands of Zaragoza in the first leg of the semi-final of the Copa del Rey midweek. Diego Milito became the first player to score four past the Merengues since Barcelona's Samitier did so in 1957, and Ewerthon added two more later on to virtually dump their opponents out of the cup. The following day Rubén Castro opened the scoring for Deportivo from the penalty spot against Espanyol, but Luis García levelled it, also with a penalty (his seventh goal of the season) and Pandiani returned to haunt his old club with a last minute winner.

Back to the league at the weekend though, and David Villa handed Barcelona their second defeat in a row and their third in five games after taking advantage of a goalkeeping mistake to score Valencia's only goal. Meanwhile Madrid bounced back to beat Athletic Bilbao with a goal and an assist from Robinho to make it a three horse race for the title. Osasuna are still in touch though, Milosevic getting his seventh of the season as they drew against Zaragoza, but if they slip up their are several candidates for that fourth Champions League spot, goals from Baiano, Kanouté and Rubén Castro keeping their respective sides in the running. (13.02.06)