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The cup this year is turning out to be one of the most thrilling in years, and there was more excitement in the first legs of the quarter finals this week. On Tuesday giant killers Mirandés almost pulled off a major surprise at Espanyol, with Pablo Infante scoring his sixth of the competition as the second division B side went two up. However the Catalans (missing their three first choice strikers, Sergio García, Alvaro Vázquez and Pandiani, through injury) came back with three in the last five minutes to take a slight advantage in to next week's second leg. Then on Wednesday we saw the resumption of hostilities between Real Madrid and Barcelona, with Cristiano Ronaldo giving Mourinho's side an early lead, but Barça once again winning in the Bernabeu with goals by defenders Puyol and Abidal. Earlier in the evening Athletic Bilbao took a big step towards a place in the semi-finals with a 2-0 win over Mallorca, Llorente and Muniain the scorers, and on Thursday Valencia hammered their city neighbours Levante 4-1, with Jonas and Soldado amongst the scorers for the locals and Koné getting one back for the visitors.

No real surprises in the league at the weekend though, with the big two both winning by the same scoreline. Barcelona beat Málaga 1-4, with yet another hat-trick by Messi and one in-between by Alexis, and Real Madrid won 4-1 against Athletic Bilbao, Llorente putting the Basque side ahead before Madrid came back with two penalties by Ronaldo and goals by Marcelo and Callejón. At the midpoint of the season (this weekend we played the rescheduled matches from day one), Ronaldo has 23 in the league and Messi 22, even better than last year's record, when they had 22 and 18 respectively. The leaders extend their dominance over the rest, with third placed Valencia only drawing 1-1 at Osasuna despite a late opener from Soldado, and fourth placed Levante held to a 0-0 draw by bottom club Zaragoza. Elsewhere Simeone's Atlético Madrid are back in the running for the European spots after a 0-4 win at Real Sociedad, Falcao netting a hat-trick including an early penalty and Adrián also on target, but Racing Santander are back to within a point of the relegation spots after a 1-2 defeat against Getafe, even though Stuani put them in front at first. (24.01.12)

Pichichi League Cup Europe Total (Penalties)
Messi (Barcelona) 22 5 9 36 (3)
Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 23 3 3 29 (10)
Soldado (Valencia) 12 3 5 20 (1)
Higuaín (Real Madrid) 14 1 2 17 (0)
Falcao (Atlético) 14 0 3 17 (6)
Benzema (Real Madrid) 10 3 4 17 (0)
Fàbregas (Barcelona) 9 2 3 14 (0)
Adrián (Atlético) 6 1 5 12 (0)
Llorente (Athletic Bilbao) 8 1 2 11 (2)
Callejón (Real Madrid) 4 3 4 11 (0)
Michu (Rayo Vallecano) 8 2 0 10 (0)
Xavi (Barcelona) 6 1 2 9 (0)
Stuani (Racing) 5 4 0 9 (4)
Villa (Barcelona) 5 1 3 9 (0)
Alexis (Barcelona) 7 1 0 8 (0)
Koné (Levante) 6 2 0 8 (0)
Hemed (Mallorca) 6 2 0 8 (5)
Barral (Sporting Gijón) 7 0 0 7 (0)
Sergio García (Espanyol) 5 2 0 7 (0)
Agirretxe (Real Sociedad) 5 2 0 7 (0)
Alvaro Vázquez (Espanyol) 3 4 0 7 (0)
Kanouté (Sevilla) 3 3 1 7 (1)
Jonas (Valencia) 1 3 3 7 (0)