Atlético Madrid and Barcelona made it through safely to the quarter finals of the Champions League after both won their second leg ties. Atlético built on their one goal lead from the first leg by beating AC Milan 4-1 on Tuesday evening, Diego Costa scoring twice and Turan and Raúl García getting the others. And on Wednesday Barça won 2-1 against Manchester City, Messi and Dani Alves repeating their goals from their 0-2 victory in England a couple of weeks ago. Thursday saw the fratricidal Europa League battle between Sevilla and city rivals Betis, the latter running out 0-2 victors, with goals from Leo Baptistao and Salva Sevilla. And earlier in the evening Valencia won 0-3 against Ludogorets, Barragán, Fede and Senderos on the scoresheet as the Ches moved close to a place in the last eight.

So to the extended weekend, and single goals from top scorers Cristiano Ronaldo and Diego Costa helped Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid to narrow victories against Málaga and Espanyol respectively on Saturday. That put the pressure on Barcelona, but they came through with flying colours after thrashing Osasuna 7-0, Messi helping himself to a hat-trick which took him on to an all time 371 goals for the club, passing Paulino Alcantará’s best to date of 369. Alexis, Iniesta, Tello and Pedro were the other scorers.

Athletic Bilbao are closing in on the fourth Champions League spots, Aduríz missing a penalty but then heading the equalizer in a 1-1 draw at direct rivals Villarreal on Monday night. Sevilla are still in the running though after a 4-1 victory against Valladolid, Gameiro netting twice, including once from the penalty spot, and Rakitic also converting a penalty, with Javi Guerra getting a late consolation for the visitors. Elsewhere Alberto Bueno opened the scoring to put Rayo on track for a third win in a row against Almería, and El-Arabi clocked up a brace in a high scoring 3-3 draw at Getafe on Friday evening. (18.03.14)

Pichichi League Cup Europe Total (Penalties)
Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 25 3 11 39 (8)
Messi (Barcelona) 18 5 8 31 (4)
Diego Costa (Atlético) 22 1 7 30 (4)
Benzema (Real Madrid) 14 2 4 20 (0)
Alexis (Barcelona) 17 2 0 19 (0)
Griezmann (Real Sociedad) 15 3 1 19 (0)
Pedro (Barcelona) 14 3 1 18 (0)
Villa (Atlético Madrid) 13 2 0 15 (1)
Bacca (Sevilla) 11 0 4 15 (0)
Vela (Real Sociedad) 10 2 3 15 (0)
Raúl García (Atlético) 7 4 4 15 (0)
Javi Guerra (Valladolid) 13 1 0 14 (0)
Bale (Real Madrid) 10 0 4 14 (0)
Gameiro (Sevilla) 9 0 5 14 (1)
Aduríz Athletic) 11 2 0 13 (2)
Rakitic (Sevilla) 11 0 2 13 (4)
Fàbregas (Barcelona) 8 4 1 13 (3)
Uche (Villarreal) 12 0 0 12 (0)
Neymar (Barcelona) 7 2 3 12 (1)
El-Arabi (Granada) 11 0 0 11 (1)
Sergio García (Espanyol) 10 1 0 11 (4)
Giovani (Villarreal) 9 1 0 10 (1)
Jorge Molina (Betis) 7 1 2 10 (1)
Rubén Castro (Betis) 7 1 2 10 (0)
Paco Alcácer (Valencia) 6 1 3 10 (0)
Oriol Riera (Osasuna) 9 0 0 9 (0)
Jonas (Valencia) 9 0 0 9 (1)
Bueno (Rayo Vallecano) 8 1 0 9 (0)
Isco (Real Madrid) 8 0 1 9 (0)
Perbet (Villarreal) 8 0 1 9 (1)
Di María (Real Madrid) 3 3 3 9 (1)