No big surprises in the midweek cup ties, with the four Champions League teams all winning their respective games. The two Madrid clubs (who will meet in the semis if they get through) both won by a single goal, Benzema scoring for Real at Espanyol and Godín for Atlético against Athletic, and Tello got a “Messi assisted” hat-trick for Barcelona at Levante. And Vela was on target for Real Sociedad in a 3-1 victory against Racing to set up a possible semi-final meeting with Barça.

A high scoring round of games at the weekend, the 38 goals scored being the second best total of the season. There were three different leaders over Saturday and Sunday, with Real Madrid going top at first after a 2-0 win against Granada, Ronaldo and Benzema the scorers once again. Atlético overtook them again on Sunday, David Villa starting things off in a 2-4 victory at Rayo Vallecano, but in the end Barcelona were back on top after won 3-0 against Málaga, with Pedro and Alexis on the scoresheet.

Elsewhere Real Sociedad’s Griezmann thought he had scored a hat-trick against Elche (he even carried away the match ball) before the referee took one off him and ruled that the first was an own goal. Carlos Vela also netted though in a 4-0 win which distances then from Sevilla, who lost 2-3 to Levante despite Rakitic putting them ahead in the second half. Valencia and Espanyol drop further away from the European spots as well as they could only draw 2-2, Jonas on target for the Ches but Sergio García saving a point for the visitors with a penalty. And Celta move away from the danger zone after a 4-2 win against bottom club Betis on Friday, Charles one of the scorers for the Galicians to take his tally for the current campaign to eight. (28.01.14)

Pichichi League Cup Europe Total (Penalties)
Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 22 1 9 32 (6)
Diego Costa (Atlético) 19 0 4 23 (4)
Messi (Barcelona) 8 4 6 18 (2)
Griezmann (Real Sociedad) 14 2 1 17 (0)
Pedro (Barcelona) 12 3 1 16 (0)
Benzema (Real Madrid) 10 2 2 14 (0)
Vela (Real Sociedad) 9 2 3 14 (0)
Bacca (Sevilla) 9 0 4 13 (0)
Alexis (Barcelona) 12 0 0 12 (0)
Uche (Villarreal) 12 0 0 12 (0)
Javi Guerra (Valladolid) 11 1 0 12 (0)
Villa (Atlético Madrid) 10 2 0 12 (1)
Rakitic (Sevilla) 10 0 2 12 (3)
Raúl García (Atlético) 6 3 3 12 (0)
Fàbregas (Barcelona) 7 3 1 11 (3)
Neymar (Barcelona) 6 2 3 11 (1)
Sergio García (Espanyol) 9 1 0 10 (4)
Bale (Real Madrid) 8 0 2 10 (0)
Jorge Molina (Betis) 7 1 2 10 (1)
Jonas (Valencia) 9 0 0 9 (1)
Giovani (Villarreal) 8 1 0 9 (1)
Charles (Celta) 8 0 0 8 (0)
Isco (Real Madrid) 7 0 1 8 (0)
Gameiro (Sevilla) 5 0 3 8 (0)
Di María (Real Madrid) 3 2 3 8 (1)