European football returned this week, and there were two good results for La Liga sides on the first of the round of 16 games. Barcelona kicked off on Tuesday with a tricky visit to Manchester City, Messi putting the Catalans one up from the penalty spot and Dani Alves adding a second near the end for a 0-2 win. And on Wednesday Atlético Madrid beat AC Milan 0-1 in the San Siro stadium, the prolific Diego Costa heading the only goal late on. Three Europa League matches on Thursday as well, Valencia beating Dynamo Kiev 0-2 (in Nicosia) with late strikes by Vargas and Feghouli, Sevilla drawing 2-2 at Maribor with goals by Gameiro and Fazio, and Betis held to a 1-1 draw at home by Rubin Kazan, Didac opening the scoring for the Andalusians early on.

Barcelona and Atlético Madrid both slipped up at the weekend though, Tata Martino’s side losing 3-1 at Real Sociedad, and Atlético being beaten 3-0 at Osasuna. Messi did get one for Barça, his 229th in the league taking him past Raúl as La Liga’s third top goalscorer (behind Zarra with 251 and Hugo Sánchez with 234), but Griezmann was amongst the scorers for the Basque side, who stay joint fifth. All of that helped a Ronaldo-less Real Madrid (who play their Champions League tie next week), Bale and Isco on target in a 3-0 win over Elche which takes them three points clear at the top. That could all change next weekend of course when Madrid visit Atlético on Saturday.

Villarreal stay ahead of Real Sociedad on goal difference however after they won 1-2 at Espanyol on Monday night, Perbet getting their second goal, but they remain four points behind fourth placed Athletic Bilbao, who won 0-2 at Betis. The top six have opened up an eight point gap over seventh spot, currently occupied by Valencia after they beat Granada 2-1, with youth international striker Paco Alcácer once again finding the net. The weekend kicked off with the Friday night game between Valladolid and Levante, Javi Guerra saving a point for the locals, who nevertheless stay down in the bottom three. (25.02.14)

Pichichi League Cup Europe Total (Penalties)
Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 22 3 9 34 (8)
Diego Costa (Atlético) 21 1 5 27 (4)
Messi (Barcelona) 14 5 7 26 (4)
Griezmann (Real Sociedad) 15 3 1 19 (0)
Alexis (Barcelona) 15 2 0 17 (0)
Pedro (Barcelona) 13 3 1 17 (0)
Benzema (Real Madrid) 13 2 2 17 (0)
Vela (Real Sociedad) 10 2 3 15 (0)
Bacca (Sevilla) 10 0 4 14 (0)
Raúl García (Atlético) 7 4 3 14 (0)
Javi Guerra (Valladolid) 12 1 0 13 (0)
Villa (Atlético Madrid) 11 2 0 13 (1)
Fàbregas (Barcelona) 8 4 1 13 (3)
Uche (Villarreal) 12 0 0 12 (0)
Bale (Real Madrid) 10 0 2 12 (0)
Rakitic (Sevilla) 10 0 2 12 (3)
Neymar (Barcelona) 7 2 3 12 (1)
Sergio García (Espanyol) 10 1 0 11 (4)
Giovani (Villarreal) 9 1 0 10 (1)
Jorge Molina (Betis) 7 1 2 10 (1)
Oriol Riera (Osasuna) 9 0 0 9 (0)
Jonas (Valencia) 9 0 0 9 (1)
Isco (Real Madrid) 8 0 1 9 (0)
Perbet (Villarreal) 8 0 1 9 (1)
Gameiro (Sevilla) 5 0 4 9 (0)
Paco Alcácer (Valencia) 5 1 3 9 (0)
Di María (Real Madrid) 3 3 3 9 (1)
Ibai Gómez (Athletic) 8 0 0 8 (1)
Charles (Celta) 8 0 0 8 (0)
El-Arabi (Granada) 8 0 0 8 (1)
Aduríz Athletic) 6 2 0 8 (0)
Jesé (Real Madrid) 5 3 0 8 (0)