This week's Champions League games were a bit of a formality as all three Spanish sides had already secured their place in the next round. Guardiola put out his "Baby-Barça" line up on Tuesday against Rubin Kazan, and they still ran out 2-0 winners (goals by B team players Fontàs and Víctor Vázquez) to lay the ghost of a side who they had not been able to beat in three previous meetings. Valencia fielded a stronger side though for their tie against Manchester United as they still had a chance of finishing first of their group, but despite a valiant 1-1 draw (goal by Pablo) they were unable to topple the Premier League side from the top spot. The following day Mourinho gave a rare start to Benzema against Auxerre, and he took full advantage by scoring a hat-trick. Many of the other key players were rested, but (with one eye on the record book) Cristiano Ronaldo insisted on playing, and he also got his name on the scoresheet against the French side.

Having played midweek, the Champions League sides played their league games at the end of the weekend. Barcelona kept up their good goalscoring run with a 5-0 victory over Real Sociedad, making it an aggregate 21-0 over their last four matches! Once again Messi got two of them, and he also had a hand in the first goal scored by Villa. Earlier in the evening Real Madrid had beaten Zaragoza 1-3, with Özil and Di María both getting their fifth of the season and Cristiano Ronaldo scoring again with a screamer of a free kick. Valencia played on Monday night, goals from Soldado and Aduríz seeming to be enough until Osasuna came back to draw 3-3. Earlier in the weekend Agüero got both goals for Atlético in a 2-0 win over Deportivo, but a strike from Kanouté was not enough to prevent Sevilla from falling to a 1-3 defeat against Almería. A Llorente header and a David López free kick helped Athletic overturn an early goal from Espanyol's Osvaldo, and Caicedo scored for Levante in a valuable 1-1 draw at Sporting. And Trézéguet was also on target for Hércules as they clocked up a comfortable 4-1 win over Málaga. Another high scoring weekend! (14.12.10)