A shocking week for Spanish sides in the Europa League this week. On Wednesday Getafe's 1-1 draw at Odense left them out of the competition, and Atlético Madrid have little chance of continuing after a 2-3 defeat against Aris Salonica. Goals from Forlán and Agüero gave them the lead, but Aris overturned the result to become the first Greek side ever to win on Spanish soil. And on Thursday the woes continued after Sevilla lost 4-2 to Paris Saint Germain, two goals from Kanouté not enough to save even a draw. The Andalusians do still have a reasonable chance of reaching the next round though thanks to previous good results. Only Villarreal gave us any joy, Rossi scoring two and Marco Rubén one in between in a 3-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb which was enough to ensure a place in the knockout stage.

At the weekend, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo continued their battle for the league Pichichi title as industrial action by air traffic controllers left all the away teams with gruelling trips by road and rail to their fixtures. Barcelona almost didn't make it to Pamplona, but even so they ran out 0-3 winners against Osasuna, with Messi setting up Pedro for the first and scoring two himself. Valencia gave themselves more time to get to Madrid, but in the end they ran out of legs as Ronaldo answered Messi with two late goals himself. And in the reverse fixture, Atlético Madrid's trip to Levante took it's toll, Caicedo on the scoresheet as Quique's side suffered a third defeat in a row. The big match the following day was between third placed Villarreal and seventh placed Sevilla, with Nilmar scoring the only goal to keep the "Yellow Submarine" hanging on the shirt-tails of the top two. (07.12.10)