A week to forget for Spanish sides in Europe. For the first time in over ten years at this stage of the competition, none of the seven clubs were able to win.

On Tuesday Barcelona were surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw at home by Basel, Messi's goal being cancelled out late on. And Atlético Madrid took the lead at Liverpool thanks to a strike by Maxi, only for a controversial penalty in injury time to rob them of the three points.

The following day Real Madrid lost 0-2 to Juventus, and Villarreal were held to a 2-2 draw at Aalborg, goals from Rossi and Guille Franco not enough for the victory.

Spain's UEFA Cup sides fared no better on Thursday, with Sevilla losing 1-0 at Standard Liège, Racing drawing 1-1 against Schalke '04 after Tchité's fourth in a week was matched, and Valencia being held 1-1 by Copenhagen, Morientes scoring but the Danes equalising near the end.

An amazing start to the weekend however, with Higuaín scoring all four of Real Madrid's goals as they came from behind three times to beat Málaga 4-3 on Saturday evening.

Samuel Eto'o was not to be overshadowed though, and later in the evening he netted four as well in the first half for Barcelona against Valladolid. Gudjohnsen and Henry added two more after the break to make it a record breaking 34 in their first ten games of the season.

Eto'o's haul of 13 to date has not been bettered since the time of César (the 1950's striker, not the Roman emperor!), and his nearest rival David Villa was not on the scoresheet this weekend. Vicente was though as Valencia won 0-3 at Getafe.

Tchité was also on target at the weekend against Sporting, making it five games in eight days. And so was Rossi, his goal in under a minute plus another from Llorente finishing off Almería. Elsewhere Kanouté made a welcome return to the Sevilla line-up, scoring the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Recreativo. (10.11.08)