Most of the top boys were rested for the midweek cup matches, with ties played over two legs mostly against lower ranked opposition. Nobody expected though that the top scorer would come from the second division B, Poli Ejido's Jorge Molina scoring a hat-trick as the minnows ate the "Yellow Submarine" whole! Apart from the 5-0 thrashing of Villarreal, Real Madrid and Sevilla also lost to 2B teams, Higuaín and Saviola's goals not enough to prevent Schuster's side from a 3-2 defeat at Real Unión, and the Andalusians unable to score as they fell 1-0 to Ponferradina. Elsewhere though the big clubs won, Forlán, Bojan, Morientes (2) and Vicente amongst the scorers for the top ranked clubs.

On to the weekend, where David Villa scored his tenth of the season against Racing. His penalty didn't prevent a 2-4 defeat though, with Tchité getting a hat-trick for the Cantabrians. The result meant that Barcelona sailed past the Ches to the top of the table, Xavi scoring twice and Messi another in a 1-4 win over Málaga that seemed more like water-polo than football. Raúl got one for Real Madrid who could only draw 1-1 at Almería, and Agüero returned to the Atlético side to bail them out with both goals against Mallorca. Elsewhere Bilic got two as Sporting clocked up their fourth win in a row, and Lafita also got a brace for Deportivo in a 0-3 win over Betis. All-in-all 35 goals, the highest tally of the season so far. (03.11.08)