Valencia took a big step towards a place in the knock-out stage of the Champions League, Soldado scoring twice and Tino Costa adding a third in a 3-0 win over Rangers on Tuesday night. Barcelona are also well on the way to qualifying, although they made hard work of a 1-1 draw at Copenhagen. Who else but Messi got the goal? Real Madrid have made sure of their place in the last sixteen already though, Higuaín giving his side the lead at AC Milan and Pedro León saving a point late on after Inzaghi had scored twice for the Italians. Mixed results in the Europa League on Thursday though, with Getafe and Villarreal failing to score against Stuttgart and PAOK respectively. Sevilla beat Karpaty 4-0 though with two from Alfaro and two more from Negredo and Cigarini, and Atlético Madrid won 1-2 at Rosenborg, Agüero opening the scoring and Tiago winning it with a cracker after the Norwegians had equalised.

Another 26 goals at the weekend, with Messi, Villa and Pedro all scoring as Barça beat Getafe 1-3. Real Madrid stay ahead of them though after a 2-0 win over city neighbours Atlético, Carvalho and Özil the scorers this time around. Nilmar, Rossi and Cazorla all netted for Villarreal in a 4-1 win over Athletic Bilbao, even though Llorente had opened the scoring for the Basque side, and Negredo and Alfaro were on target again as Sevilla beat Valencia 2-0 on Monday. Things are hotting up! (09.11.10)