We could have told Sir Gareth at the start of the season, “if you want to really be loved by the Real Madrid fans, you have to score the winning goal against Barcelona, in a cup final, with only a couple of minutes to go!”. And that is precisely what the Welsh Wizzard did on Wednesday night, starting from inside his own half, getting forced off the pitch by Marc Bartra for a moment, but still outstripping the defender at a timed 27 k.p.h. before poking a shot past Pinto! The social media loved it, one tweet substituting his image for that of the cartoon bird the Road Runner, and another posting a mock-up speeding ticket, complete with additional fine for crossing the continuous white line as well. Less than a season in, and he is already a legend at the Bernabeu! Bale’s goal broke the deadlock, Bartra himself having cancelled out an early strike by Di María, and the game seemingly heading for extra time before “Usain Bale”, or “Gareth Bolt” as he was alternately called by the press, struck for his 20 th goal of the season.

That rounded off a dismal week for Barcelona after they were knocked out of the Champions League and lost their advantage in La Liga, but they at least stopped the rot on Sunday night, Pedro and Messi scoring to overturn an earlier strike by Athletic’s Aduríz, and keep them within sight of the leaders. Real Madrid’s match against Valladolid was postponed to give them time to prepare for the Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich, but Atlético were in action on Friday, a 2-0 victory over Elche, complete with injury time penalty from Diego Costa, maintaining the gap at the top. Athletic’s defeat opens up a chance for Sevilla to catch them for that fourth Champions League spot (especially as the two meet in the San Mamés next weekend) and the Andalusians are now only three points behind after a 4-0 victory over Granada, with Gameiro on the scoresheet once again.

Sevilla are probably the only team who can catch Athletic, but Real Sociedad are still in with an outside chance, a last minute strike by Carlos Vela giving them a 2-1 win over Espanyol. Valencia lost ground on the Europa League spots though after drawing 1-1 at Osasuna, Jonas getting a late equalizer after Riera had given the locals the lead, and their best chance of a return to Europe next season is to win the competition this year. Osasuna still have some work to do to save themselves, but Celta and Rayo are just about safe, Nolito helping himself to a brace as the former won 2-4 at Almería, and Larrivey rounding things off as the latter beat Betis 3-1, virtually condemning the Andalusians to relegation to the second division. (22.04.14)

Pichichi League Cup Europe Total (Penalties)
Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 28 3 14 45 (9)
Messi (Barcelona) 26 5 8 39 (8)
Diego Costa (Atlético) 27 1 7 35 (5)
Benzema (Real Madrid) 16 2 4 22 (0)
Griezmann (Real Sociedad) 16 3 1 20 (0)
Bale (Real Madrid) 14 1 5 20 (0)
Bacca (Sevilla) 14 0 6 20 (1)
Gameiro (Sevilla) 14 0 6 20 (2)
Alexis (Barcelona) 17 2 0 19 (0)
Pedro (Barcelona) 15 3 1 19 (0)
Aduríz Athletic) 16 2 0 18 (2)
Vela (Real Sociedad) 13 2 3 18 (1)
Raúl García (Atlético) 8 4 4 16 (0)
Villa (Atlético Madrid) 13 2 0 15 (1)
Rakitic (Sevilla) 12 0 3 15 (5)
Neymar (Barcelona) 9 2 4 15 (1)
Javi Guerra (Valladolid) 13 1 0 14 (0)
Paco Alcácer (Valencia) 6 1 7 14 (0)
Sergio García (Espanyol) 12 1 0 13 (5)
Fàbregas (Barcelona) 8 4 1 13 (3)
El-Arabi (Granada) 12 0 0 12 (1)
Oriol Riera (Osasuna) 12 0 0 12 (0)
Uche (Villarreal) 12 0 0 12 (0)
Bueno (Rayo Vallecano) 11 1 0 12 (0)
Rubén Castro (Betis) 9 1 2 12 (0)
Larrivey (Rayo Vallecano) 11 0 0 11 (3)
Giovani (Villarreal) 10 1 0 11 (1)
Perbet (Villarreal) 10 0 1 11 (1)
Jorge Molina (Betis) 8 1 2 11 (1)
Isco (Real Madrid) 8 0 3 11 (0)
Di María (Real Madrid) 4 3 4 11 (1)
Nolito (Celta) 10 0 0 10 (2)
Jonas (Valencia) 10 0 0 10 (1)