Defending champions Atlético Madrid are out of the Europa Cup after a 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen midweek. Fran Mérida's goal in the snow was little consolation as results in previous games went against them. Getafe have also been eliminated from the competition, and their 1-0 victory on Thursday over Young Boys (goal from youngster Adrián Sardinero) was academic. Two La Liga sides will be in the knock-out stage though, a couple of goals from Rossi in six minutes, including a penalty, seeing Villarreal beat Brugge to tie up top spot in their group, and strikes from Romaric and Kanouté helping Sevilla to a 2-2 draw against Borussia Dortmund, enough for them to finish second in their mini-league.

So to the last round of league matches in 2010, with Barcelona ending in style after beating city neighbours Espanyol 1-5. For once Messi wasn't on the scoresheet, but he did provide two or three assists as Pedro and Villa helped themselves to a brace each to cancel out Osvaldo's goal. Curiously the following day Cristiano Ronaldo also failed to score, although a late strike by Di María as enough to give Real Madrid a 1-0 win over Sevilla, keeping them within two points of their arch-rivals. Meanwhile Villarreal consolidated third spot with goals from Rossi and Nilmar in a 3-1 victory against Mallorca, and Aduríz was one of the scorers as Valencia beat Real Sociedad 1-2 to move up to fourth. Goals from Caicedo and Ulloa didn't prevent Levante and Almería from home defeats against Athletic Bilbao and Getafe respectively however, and both clubs are languishing in the lower reaches of the table. (21.12.10)