Not quite what we expected, but what a game we had on Monday night! We all thought it would be a more even contest between Barcelona and Real Madrid, but in the end Barça ran out five goal winners to move above their arch-rivals to the top of the table. For the first time in eleven games Messi didn't score, but he did set up two in four minutes for David Villa, and with Xavi, Pedro and Jeffren also on the scorecard as well Guardiola's side established themselves once again as the best in Spain - for now at least.

Earlier in the week the two giants of La Liga both had comfortable wins in the Champions League, Cristiano Ronaldo scoring two in the second half (including a penalty) as Real Madrid beat Ajax 0-4 on Tuesday, and Pedro getting two and Messi one in between as Barcelona won 0-3 at Panathinaikos the following day. Valencia also thrashed a poor Bursaspor 6-1, with Soldado (twice) and Aduríz amongst the scorers. With one round still to go all three are sure of a place in the knockout stage.

Back to the weekend, and Soldado followed up his midweek brace with two more against Almería on Sunday. Ulloa did get one back though at the end to give new coach José Luis Oltra some hope of a revival. Earlier in the evening Hércules beat Levante 3-1, with Valdez scoring two on his birthday and Trézéguet getting the other. The two forwards have now scored 13 of the Alicante side's 14 goals this season.

On Saturday Kanouté's strike couldn't prevent Sevilla falling to a 1-3 defeat against Getafe, and Nilmar was on target as Villarreal consolidated third spot with a 0-3 win at Zaragoza. Cazorla also scored in that match to take his tally to five, and Osvaldo got his fifth of the season as well to help fourth placed Espanyol to a 2-3 victory over Atlético Madrid. A few minutes before Osvaldo's winner Agüero had levelled it at 2-2. (30.11.10)