Lots of goals again in the fifth round, second leg of the cup, with Villarreal going two down against neighbours Valencia to strikes by Banega and Soldado, but coming back with four of their own after the break, including two from Rossi and two more from Marco Rubén and Cazorla. Almería beat Mallorca 4-3 for the second time in eight days, with a brace each for Piatti, Juanma Ortíz and Cavenaghi, and there was a hat-trick for Depor substitute Adrián against Córdoba, taking his tally to five in the last five days. Agüero's goal at Espanyol was enough to take them through, and Luis Fabiano was on target as Sevilla followed up the 5-3 first leg result with a 0-3 victory at Málaga. Llorente's strike for Athletic Bilbao came too late though to prevent Barcelona going through thanks to an away goal from Abidal, and Levante's 2-0 win over a depleted Real Madrid was scant consolation after the 8-0 thrashing in the Bernabeu stadium last week. Betis twin strikers Jorge Molina and Rubén Castro got three between them as well to beat Getafe, although they of course don't count in our chart as the Andalusians are (for the time being at least) in the second division.

So to the weekend, and Cristiano Ronaldo got the drop on Messi in the battle between La Liga's two extra-terrestrials, scoring a fourth hat-trick of the season as Real Madrid came from behind to beat third placed Villarreal 4-2. Messi did get a goal though, as did Villa, Iniesta and Pedro in a 0-4 win at Deportivo, and on Monday night it was Messi who took the "Ballon d'Or" for the second time in a row ahead of his team-mates Iniesta and Xavi. Elsewhere Kanouté scored twice and Luis Fabiano got one in between as Sevilla beat Real Sociedad 2-3, Osvaldo headed an early goal for Espanyol but was then carried off with what looked like a bad injury, and Trézéguet netted his ninth of the season as Hércules tonked Atlético Madrid 4-1 in the last match of the extended weekend. (11.01.11)